In a dramatic turn of events, a long-standing legal battle over premises liability has taken an unexpected twist. The case involves a plaintiff who suffered injuries in 2006 and obtained a default judgment against a defendant that allegedly did not own the property at the time of the incident. Barbara Politsch filed her complaint in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County on March 3, 2025, against Metroplaza Partners, LLC.
The crux of the case dates back to August 2006 when Barbara Politsch was injured outside a Dollar Rent-A-Car office. She initially sued Dollar and other unnamed defendants for negligence and premises liability in August 2008. However, by March 2010, she had settled with Dollar and amended her complaint to include Metroplaza Partners as Doe No. 1. The plaintiff claimed that Metroplaza owned the property where she was injured. Despite obtaining a default judgment for $175,000 in March 2012, it later emerged that Metroplaza had sold the property in June 2005—over a year before Politsch's accident—and thus had no control over it at the time of her injury.
Metroplaza Partners discovered this default judgment only in January 2014 through their lawyer but took no action due to lack of advice from their counsel. It wasn't until February 2022 that Politsch renewed her efforts to enforce the judgment with new legal representation. This prompted Metroplaza to file a motion to set aside the default judgment on August 5, 2022, which was granted by Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch under equitable powers due to exceptional circumstances.
The trial court found that Metroplaza demonstrated a meritorious defense since they did not own or control the property at the time of Politsch's injury. Furthermore, it concluded that Metroplaza was never properly served with summons and complaint documents because Walter Davis, who purportedly served them, was not a registered process server in California—a key factor since service validity relies heavily on proper procedure.
Politsch's appeal argued against setting aside the judgment due to what she perceived as an unreasonable delay by Metroplaza after learning about it in January 2014. However, evidence showed that Metroplaza relied on its attorney for guidance and received none until much later. The court emphasized its preference for cases being decided on their merits rather than procedural technicalities.
The plaintiff is seeking relief through reinstatement of the original judgment amounting to $175,627.47 along with any additional costs incurred during this prolonged litigation process.
Representing Barbara Politsch is attorney Joseph S. Socher while David S. Alverson and Michael E. Pappas from Lesnick Prince Pappas & Alverson represent Metroplaza Partners LLC. The case ID is B332393 under Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch’s jurisdiction at Los Angeles County Superior Court.