In National Diversified Services, Inc. v. Bernstein (1985) 168 Cal.App.3d 410, the plaintiff personally served a defendant with summons and complaint and filed a return of service with the trial court. Both the service and return occurred more than three years after the complaint had been filed. The defendant failed to appear and the plaintiff obtained a default judgment. The defendant moved to vacate, urging the default judgment was void because he had been served beyond the three-year period. (Former 581a.) The appellate court rejected that contention, finding that both decisional and statutory law had developed to the point that a dismissal for failure to comply with the three-year statute was now discretionary, not mandatory. (168 Cal.App.3d at pp. 414-415.) Consequently, the appellate court concluded it was improper to characterize the default judgment as void (instead it was merely "irregular") because the factors a trial court can consider in exercising its discretionary power to dismiss do not necessarily appear on a review of the judgment roll. (Id. at pp. 415-416.) In the course of that discussion, the court noted that precedent holds that a default judgment is "valid when based on actual service of summons on the defendant, though no proof of service is filed prior to entry of the judgment." (Id. at p. 416.)