Opinion ID: 1757346
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Evidentiary Value of the Judgment

Text: Intermingled with the problem of the required notice is the question of what effect the default judgment against Greer has upon Howze's counterclaim against Surety. Surety claims that at best the default judgment is prima facie proof only of its own rendition. See, e. g., RESTATEMENT OF SECURITY § 139(3) (1941) [6] and Monmouth Lumber Co. v. Indemnity Ins. Co., 21 N.J. 439, 122 A.2d 604 (1956). Howze claims that the default judgment should be conclusive proof or at least create a rebuttable presumption of Surety's liability. See, e. g., Sauer v. Detroit Fidelity and Surety Co., 237 Mich. 697, 213 N.W. 98, 51 A.L.R. 1485 (1927); 72 C.J.S. Principal and Surety § 261 at 706; and First Mobile Home Corp. v. Little, 298 So.2d 676 (Miss. 1974). There are other positions not necessary to list here. See Annotation, 59 A.L. R.2d 752. Since this bond is a statutory bond, this Court does not need to announce a general rule applicable to all cases where a creditor obtains a default judgment against the principal and attempts to introduce the judgment against the surety. The terms of this Act (and subsequently of the bond) condition the liability of a mobile home surety upon the establishment of liability against the principal; i. e., upon a judgment. Therefore, under the provisions of this Act, a judgment which establishes liability against the principal resulting from a cause of action connected with the sale or lease of a mobile home is binding upon the surety, absent proof of fraud or collusion. There was none here.