Opinion ID: 1924949
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exercise of Discretion by Trial Court.

Text: We now turn to the question of whether it was abuse of discretion for the trial court to have refused to vacate the judgment. The only reason advanced by defendants for not having entered an appearance in the action or served an answer was the claim supported by the affidavit of defendant Verdone that, at the time of the service of the summons and complaint, plaintiffs' attorney assured defendants that he would not file these papers in court and that the parties would continue their negotiations. This statement is directly contradicted by the affidavit of plaintiffs' attorney. The registered letter sent to Verdone on September 27, 1961, by plaintiffs' attorney, in which it was stated: This letter shall not be construed in any way as waiving action heretofore commenced, constituted a plain warning to defendants that the action would be prosecuted if the defendants continued in their default. The only way the action could be prosecuted would be to file a summons and complaint and attempted to take judgment. The trial court made no finding with respect to the disputed issue of fact as to whether plaintiffs had promised that they would not file the summons and complaint. Had such promise been made, the entry of the order denying the application to vacate the judgment would have been improper and would have constituted an abuse of discretion. A presumption of regularity attends this order and on this record we must assume that the trial court concluded that no such promise had been made. This being so it necessarily follows that there was no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court refusing to vacate the judgment.