California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from San Bernardino Community Hospital v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., 74 Cal.App.4th 928, 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 516 (Cal. App. 1999):
13 That provision requires the court to grant relief from a default, default judgment, or dismissal if the party's attorney files a mea culpa affidavit of mistake or neglect. By its terms, however, it does not apply to other types of rulings as to which relief might be sought under Code of Civil Procedure section 473. (See Tackett v. City of Huntington Beach (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 60, 65, 27 Cal.Rptr.2d 133, refusing to apply the "automatic relief" provision to the failure to file a tort claim with a public entity.) Instead, the provision applies only to the most immediately serious and final rulings.
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.