Berger v. Castro
Cross defendant and appellant Juan C. Castro (Castro) challenges the default judgment rendered against him in favor of cross complainant and respondent Paul Berger (Berger) in a matter involving an agreement to subordinate one judgment lien to another. As discussed below, Court agree with both parties that the default judgment should be reversed and the underlying default set aside. This is because neither the cross complaint nor the first amended cross complaint alleged an amount of damages, and Castro was not served with a statement of damages as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 580. Castro argues that this court should also order the action dismissed with prejudice on the merits because Berger did not properly plead the fraud cause of action and cannot establish that a valid contract existed between them. Because these issues were not fully litigated in the trial court, Court decline to address them on appeal.
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