Case Title: Gifford v. 601 Christiana Investors, LLC, et al.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 571, 2017

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2018-09-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
CHARLES H. GIFFORD, III,  
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
No. 571, 2017 
 
Defendant Below,   
 
§ 
 
 
Appellant,  
 
 
§ 
Court Below:  Superior Court of the  
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
State of Delaware  
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
C.A. No. N15J-03882 
601 CHRISTIANA INVESTORS, 
§ 
 
LLC, by way of assignment from 
§ 
Wilmington Savings Fund Society, 
§ 
FSB,  
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
Plaintiff Below, 
 
 
§ 
 
 
Appellee. 
 
 
 
§ 
 
Submitted: July 13, 2018 
 
Decided: 
September 25, 2018 
 
Before STRINE, Chief Justice; VALIHURA and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
(1) 
The appellant, Charles H. Gifford, III, has appealed the Superior 
Court’s order of November 29, 2017, which denied his motion, under Superior Court 
Civil Rule 60(b), for relief from a judgment by confession that was entered against 
him in 2016.1  Last year, we affirmed the Superior Court’s denial of Gifford’s motion 
for reconsideration of a Commissioner’s order, which found, after a hearing, that 
                                          
 
1 Gifford v. 601 Christiana Investors, LLC, 2017 WL 5900951 (Del. Super. Ct. Nov. 29, 2017).  
2 
 
Gifford’s waiver of rights in connection with the entry of judgment by confession 
was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.2 
(2) 
The record reflects that, following submission of the parties’ briefs on 
the Rule 60(b) motion, oral argument on August 9, 2017, and post-argument 
submissions, the Superior Court denied the motion for relief from judgment after 
determining that Gifford had no possibility of presenting a meritorious defense to 
the entry of judgment, and that his failure to pursue what he claimed was a 
meritorious defense in a timely way was not the result of excusable neglect.3  After 
carefully considering the parties’ briefs on appeal and the available record,4 we can 
find no error or abuse of discretion in the Superior Court’s denial of Gifford’s motion 
for relief from judgment. 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the Superior 
Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Leo E. Strine, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chief Justice  
 
     
                                          
 
2 Gifford v. 601 Christiana Investors, LLC, 2017 WL 1134769 (Del. Mar. 27, 2017).  
3 Supra note 1. 
4 Gifford did not order a transcript of the Superior Court oral argument for this appeal.