Opinion ID: 3011408
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Default Judgment Issue

Text: In addition to appealing the District Court's dismissal of her complaint, the plaintiff contends the District Court 15 erred in declining to grant plaintiff's motion for default judgment based on defendant's late answer. Three factors control whether a default judgment should be granted: (1) prejudice to the plaintiff if default is denied, (2) whether the defendant appears to have a litigable defense, and (3) whether defendant's delay is due to culpable conduct. See United States v. $55,518.85 in U.S. Currency, 728 F.2d 192, 195 (3d Cir. 1984). The District Court's refusal to enter a default judgment is subject to review under the abuse of discretion standard. We agree with the District Court that a default judgment was not warranted here. The plaintiff is not prejudiced by the denial of default judgment because her failure to file the affidavit of merit on time was not related in any way to the defendant's late answer. The plaintiff received notice when the answer was filed May 8, 1998, and knew or should have known that the 60-day period to file the affidavit of merit began that day. If the plaintiff wanted to make a motion for default judgment before the 60-day affidavit of merit window closed, she could have done so. In addition, the defendant alleged a litigable defense to both counts of the complaint, and no record evidence suggests that the defendant's delay in filing an answer was due to culpable conduct, which in the Third Circuit is conduct that is taken willfully or in bad faith. Gross v. Stereo Component Sys., Inc., 700 F.2d 120, 124 (3d Cir. 1991).