Opinion ID: 1934211
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Defendants' Failure to File a Motion to Set Aside the Order of Default and Default Judgment.

Text: Dolezal's second fall-back position is that we should uphold the district court rulings because the defendants did not file a motion to set aside the default and the default judgment pursuant to Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 236 before appealing to our court. Rule 236 provides: On motion and for good cause shown, and upon such terms as the court prescribes, but not ex parte, the court may set aside a default or the judgment thereon, for mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, or unavoidable casualty. Such motion must be filed promptly after the discovery of the grounds thereof, but not more than sixty days after entry of the judgment. Its filing shall not affect the finality of the judgment or impair its operation. (Emphasis added.) As its language implies, rule 236 is not an appropriate method of correcting the irregularity that occurred here. The irregularity was the court's entry of a default and a default judgment contrary to a rule of civil procedure. None of the grounds in rule 236mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect or unavoidable casualtycovers this irregularity. The groundsmistake, inadvertence, and excusable neglectimply conduct by the defaulting party that relieve that party from the default. Surprise and unavoidable casualty imply events outside of the control of the defaulting party that relieves the party from the default. Additionally, a party seeking to have a default set aside under rule 236 must assert a claim or defense in good faith. Central Nat'l Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d at 756. There is no such requirement in rule 231(b). In fact, this requirement is inconsistent with the mandate in rule 231(b) prohibiting the entry of a default unless the required ten-day notice is given and the written certification that such notice was given is filed. Moreover, because the default judgment was a final judgment, the defendants had to appeal or risk having in force a valid judgment against them. See Iowa R.App. P. 1 (providing that all final judgments may be appealed); Iowa R.App. P. 5(a) (providing that all appeals must be taken within thirty days from the entry of the judgment); Iowa R. Civ. P. 236 (providing that a motion to set aside a default judgment does not affect the finality of the judgment); Snyder v. Allamakee County, 402 N.W.2d 416, 418 (Iowa 1987) (holding that a default judgment is a final judgment).