Opinion ID: 878914
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: order vacating default judgment

Text: Any default judgment entered against defendant in this case was void for want of jurisdiction. Kraus v. Treasure Belt Min. Co. (1965), 146 Mont. 432, 408 P.2d 151. Personal jurisdiction over defendant State Farm was never obtained because no valid service of process was ever made. Service of process upon a foreign insurer may be made only by service of process upon the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Montana under § 33-1-602, MCA; and see Reed v. Woodmen of the World (1933), 94 Mont. 374, 22 P.2d 819. State Farm is an Illinois corporation. The Clerk of the District Court may enter a default judgment under Rule 55(b)(1), M.R.Civ.P., only when the amount of the claim is a sum certain. The prayer for punitive damages in plaintiff's complaint was not a sum certain within the meaning of Rule 55(b)(1), M.R.Civ.P. Even if service of process on the defendant was proper the Clerk was without legal authority to enter the default judgment. For the above-stated reasons the District Court was correct in vacating the default judgment which plaintiffs claimed.