Does a stipulation for a pre-trial hearing set a trial date after the expiration of the statutory period?

As we have seen, the petitioner, within the five-year statutory period, stipulated to a pre-trial hearing to be held on March 11, 1957, which was more than five years after the filing of the action, and following the filing of such stipulation the court on its own motion and prior to the pre-trial hearing set May 16, 1957, as the date of trial. Further, by agreement of counsel on March 11, 1957, the pre-trial hearing was placed off calendar and as a result thereof the trial date of May 16, 1957, was vacated by the respondent court. In denying petitioner's motion to dismiss, the above quoted minute order of the trial court would indicate its opinion that the stipulation for the pre-trial hearing for a date after the expiration of the statutory period constituted a written stipulation within the provisions of section 583 extending the statutory period to the time that the date of trial would be fixed at the pre-trial hearing. Petitioner contends that the stipulation for the pretrial hearing was not 'a written stipulation extending the time for trial beyond the statutory period of five years.' Hastings v. Superior Court, 131 Cal.App.2d 255, 258,

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