Since the judgment was by default no significant investment of judicial effort was made. Thus, the judgment is supported by none of the considerations supporting preclusion and properly may be treated as wholly abortive. Although the decision as to whether to set aside a default judgment is within the discretion of the court, any doubts should be resolved in favor of the petitioner because of the policy favoring determination of actions by trial on their merits. Even a void judgment should not be vacated if the party seeking relief, after having had notice of the judgment, showed an intention to treat the judgment as valid and vacating the judgment would harm a third person who has relied on the judgment. For example, B never receives service.
Judgment is entered ordering replevin of an article to A and B surrenders the article.
In this situation, the Court has the discretion to require as a condition of vacating the default judgment that the moving party redress any unjust inconvenience suffered by the party who obtained the judgment and to limit the scope of relief to the extent necessary to protect reliance interests such as described above. If service of process is insufficient, the Court does not have personal jurisdiction over the defendants and a default judgment is void. Thus, when insufficient service is alleged, a motion to vacate the default judgment may be made after the normally applicable time limits. In Eanes , summonses for three defendants were mailed as a single summons in one envelope addressed to the three defendants. Approximately six months after the default judgment, an automobile owned by one of the defendants was levied upon.