Opinion ID: 1182366
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: propriety of the default judgment

Text: Although by his own statement Zweifel has filed some 70,000 placer mining claims in Wyoming, using some 3,000 co-locators, at no place in the record do we find any allegation or other showing that would have justified the court below or this Court in holding that even one of the locations was initiated in compliance with the laws of the United States or the state of Wyoming. Defendant was content to make only a general denial of allegations that he had filed location certificates in the county clerks' offices without doing location work upon the ground. That allegation of fact was substantially supported by affidavits of competent geologists who had done walkouts of the premises. While these affidavits did not disclose that every legal subdivision as to which Zweifel had recorded a certificate had been inspected and found to be devoid of any posts or notices on the ground of the placer mining claim, we think that in the absence of any specific showing by defendant to the contrary they were proper proof of the allegations of the complaint. Defendant was given every opportunity to respond to the interrogatories and furnish factual information. Although on June 8 he was in default for failure to respond or object thereto, the court at that time gave him another 30 days. That date passed with no action by him. Knowing that a motion for default had been filed and having some two weeks notice of the setting of argument thereon, he made no attempt to justify his failure to answer or to get further extension of time. It was not until after argument and presumably an orally announced adverse decision and request for additional affidavits in behalf of plaintiff that he got around to preparing an affidavit concerning the difficulties of preparing and filing the answers, which was not then filed but retained by defendant or his counsel until November 6, a week after the judgment had been entered. Even after judgment had been entered and in connection with his motion to vacate, defendant made no attempt to be factual; his statement that he has a meritorious defense is completely without factual substantiation, a procedure that we have consistently rejected. [12] Rule 37(d), W.R.C.P., is explicit in permitting the entry of default judgment against one who fails to file answers to interrogatories or to excuse such failure. The trial court was therefore amply justified in granting the default judgment, and the action taken was clearly no abuse of discretion. While its action in denying the motion to vacate the judgment was probably taken after its jurisdiction of the cause had ended, we have no doubt that it was correct and there is no basis for this Court to set aside the default and permit further proceedings in the action unless defendant is correct in his contention that the judgment was legally erroneous.