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Rawat and the Trust moved to set aside the “ruling” alleging Rawat was “surprised
to know that there is a judgment against me and against Sitaram Trust in this case.”
Rawat claimed Oliver abandoned her, “never even informed Kiran Rawat and Sitaram
Trust about this case,” and she had not been served with any documents in the case.
Rawat declared Singh “never even informed me all the facts in this case” and “never
asked my approval to do anything in this case.” Rawat did not, however, declare that she
did not know about the case.
Later, and represented by counsel, Rawat, individually and in her capacity as a
trustee of the Trust, filed a formal motion to vacate the judgment as “void” due to lack of
service. In support, Rawat filed a new declaration alleging she was the only trustee of the
Trust; the facts stated in the proof of service (at the Sacramento County courthouse) were
not correct because she was never served at any point; she was never “mailed any
information about this case”; she first learned of this case from Singh on June 10, 2015,
after the adverse judgment; and she had been “legally separated” from Singh since 2005
(thereby conceding she was still married to him). Rawat also alleged that Singh had no
authority to accept service for the trust, she had never hired Oliver to represent the Trust
(but she did not explicitly declare that she had not hired Oliver to represent her), she had
not executed any documents in the case, and she “never had any conversations about the
litigation” with Oliver. No documents corroborating her alleged legal separation from
Singh were provided.
In opposition, Fernandes again relied on the proof of service, the answer, and
Rawat’s discovery responses, to show she had been served and had appeared. As for the
claim of abandonment, Fernandes contended that may cause liability for Oliver, but did
not deprive the court of jurisdiction over Rawat.
In reply, Rawat filed another declaration alleging in part that she never signed the
discovery verification and had had no knowledge of it, and she had never hired Oliver to