Can a trial court dismiss with prejudice defendants who have not appeared?

The parties have not cited the court to any California case to hold that a trial court may dismiss with prejudice defendants who have not appeared or as to whom it has granted a motion to quash for lack of jurisdiction. While Code of Civil Procedure section 581, subdivision (m), does provide that "[t]he provisions of this section shall not be deemed to be an exclusive enumeration of the court's power to dismiss an action or dismiss a complaint . . . ," under well-established rules of statutory construction that section cannot be read to contradict the provisions in another more specific section of the same statute, here subdivision (h) of section 581. (See, e.g., Harris v. Capital Growth Investors XIV (1991) 52 Cal.3d 1142, 1159-1160.)

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