Default Judgment

A default judgment is a binding judgment issued by a court in favor of the plaintiff when the defendant fails to respond to a court summons or fails to appear in court. If damages were included in the complaint, the default judgment will take those into consideration unless proof of those damages is required.

While a defendant faced with a default judgment can seek to have the judgment vacated by demonstrating a valid excuse, not appearing in court or ignoring a summons is generally considered to be a bad idea.

• In the United States, how default judgments are handled depends upon the state in which the civil action was filed. State courts, United States Federal Courts, tribal courts and many administrative agencies have their own laws and local procedural rules relating to the granting and setting aside of a default judgment. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 55 and 60) are the basis for many procedures in default. Federal Rule 37(b)(iii) states that a balky plaintiff can be found in default and have his case dismissed if the plaintiff repeatedly fails to comply with things like court orders and discovery requests. Typically, the plaintiff must show that service of process was effected on the defendant. This is usually achieved by the filing of an affidavit of service (also known as a proof of service), which provides sufficient information to allow the court to confirm that valid service has occured. Typically, the affidavit states, under oath or penalty of perjury, that service was effected on a named defendant, briefly describes how it was effected, names the person who made service, and gives the place and date service was effected.