In Groves v. Peterson (2002) 100 Cal.App.4th 659, the Court of Appeal reversed the order sustaining the demurrer on the ground of collateral estoppel. (Id. at p. 671.) Groves filed an independent action in equity to vacate a default judgment that had been entered against him in 1994 on the ground he had not been validly served with the summons and complaint. (Id. at p. 661.) Peterson demurred on the ground the complaint was barred by collateral estoppel, because Groves had made a motion in 2000 to set aside default judgment in the underlying case on the same ground, and the motion was denied. (Ibid.) The motion and opposition to the motion to set aside default judgment were supported by declarations concerning whether Groves had an agent or business at the address where he was served. (Id. at pp. 662-665.) Concerning the issue of service of process, the trial court ruled the motion to set aside default judgment was time-barred by the statute of limitations. (Id. at pp. 665, 670.) The trial court's ruling was limited to the procedural ground; the trial court did not determine whether service was valid. (Id. at p. 670.) Thus, threshold requirements for the application of collateral estoppel was not satisfied: the issue sought to be precluded from relitigation had not been decided on the merits in the former proceeding. (See Sabek, Inc. v. Engelhard Corp., supra, 65 Cal.App.4th at p. 997.) The court in Groves also held that, even if the issue of the validity of service had been decided in the former proceeding, the denial of the motion would not bar Groves in the subsequent action because of the rule that, generally, a prior order denying a motion to set aside a default does not collaterally estop a subsequent independent action in equity. (Groves, supra, 100 Cal.App.4th at pp. 667-668.) In Groves, and in the cases cited by Groves, this general rule was applied in cases where the record disclosed nothing more than that the motion to vacate default was heard upon, at most, declarations or affidavits. (See id. at pp. 662-665, 667-668 affidavits.)