Case Title: Courtyard Partners v. Tanner

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1990-12-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 89-489

                        SPECIAL DECEMBER TERM, 1990


Courtyard Partners, d/b/a         }          APPEALED FROM:
Adele Stanley Apartments          }
                                  }
     v.                           }          District Court of Vermont,
                                  }          Unit No. 1, Rutland Circuit
                                  }
Pamela Tanner                     }
and John Doty, Sr.                }          DOCKET NO. 101-4-89Rc


             In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:


     Plaintiffs, Courtyard Partners, brought this action to evict
defendants, Pamela Tanner and John Doty, Sr., from federally assisted
housing.  Defendants, who were at the time pro se, failed to appear at trial
because defendant Doty forgot about the hearing.  Doty also alleged that he
failed to employ a lawyer because he did not know that he had a defense to
the action and thought he had to move to other housing.  Eight days after
the trial court issued an eviction order, defendants, now represented by a
Vermont Legal Aid, Inc. attorney, moved to set aside the judgment under
V.R.C.P. 60(b), alleging that their neglect to appear was excusable and that
they had a strong and complete defense to the eviction.  The trial court
denied the motion, without considering the strength of the defense, on the
ground that the failure to appear at trial was not excusable.

     Because plaintiff presented evidence on the merits, this is not a
default judgment case.  See Leiter v. Pfundston, 150 Vt. 593, 595,