When someone comes to your door with a lawsuit, that’s stressful enough. But it gets even worse when a process server shows up at your door with court paperwork saying that you have defaulted and a judgment entered against you.
You knew nothing of this lawsuit. You never had the chance to defend yourself. What happened, and what do you do now? Read on as the Chicago business ethics attorney at Ellis Legal explains more below.
How Could a Default Judgment be Entered Against You?
There are a number of ways that a judgment can be entered against you without you knowing, and depending on what happened, you may or may not have the chance to reopen the case so that you can defend yourself.
Often, judgments are entered against businesses without them knowing when the process server did not serve the original lawsuit on the person designated to receive service for a business by law. That person is normally the company’s registered agent, but many Plaintiffs will instruct process servers to just serve corporate officers, directors—even lower-level employees.
That isn’t valid service on a company, and if a judgment is entered against your company because the service was made on the wrong person, you can fight the default and have the case reopened.
When It Is Your Fault
There are times when the fault is yours. For example, if the process server served your registered agent, and he or she never got the court documentation to you. Or when the registered agent gave it to someone in your office, they did nothing about it.
Overturning the Default
In those cases, you can still fight the default—it just will be much tougher.
You will have to show the court that you used due diligence and that the failure to respond to the lawsuit was a result of excusable neglect. You will also have to show that you have a meritorious defense—that is, if given the chance to defend yourself, you have something that would constitute a legitimate defense.
You may have to have a full hearing, with depositions (or at least affidavits) and witnesses, to show how and why you did not respond to the lawsuit.
Act Quickly
You do need to act fast—the standard to have the judgment vacated is much easier within 30 days than if the motion is filed after 30 days have expired. Additionally, the court can consider how quickly you acted after learning of the default in deciding whether or not to vacate the default.
Judges and Defaults
On the one hand, many judges understand how life works and don’t want someone saddled with a judgment when they never had the chance to defend themselves. On the other hand, judges have busy dockets and often prefer to close cases and move on, as opposed to reopening what appears to be a closed case.
Speak with a Chicago business and legal ethics litigation attorney at Ellis Legal at (312) 967-7629 today for help if you have a judgment entered against you or if you’re trying to get a judgment against someone else.