Olivera v. Grace

In Olivera v. Grace (1942) 19 Cal.2d 570, the Supreme Court applied the well-recognized principle that an independent action in equity can be brought to set aside a "'legal judgment was obtained or entered through fraud, mistake, or accident, or where the defendant in the action, having a valid legal defense on the merits, was prevented in any manner from maintaining it by fraud, mistake, or accident, and there had been no negligence, laches, or other fault on his part, or on the part of his agents . . . . The ground for the exercise of this jurisdiction is that there has been no fair adversary trial at law.' " (Id. at p. 575.)