Opinion ID: 1318297
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Heading: vacating a default judgment

Text: In order to relieve a party of a default judgment, the trial court must find that the judgment was taken through mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect. See S.C. Code Ann. § 15-27-130 (1976). A motion to vacate a judgment by default is within the sound discretion of the trial judge and his ruling will not be disturbed on appeal, absent a clear showing that the lower court abused its discretion. Em-Co Metal Products, Inc. v. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, Inc. , 280 S.C. 107, 311 S.E. (2d) 83 (Ct. App. 1984). Wynne was personally served while visiting Hilton Head Island and a second time by mail at his place of residence, although only the affidavit of personal service was filed with the clerk of court. Wynne claims that the documents served upon him did not apprise him that an action had been commenced against him because of the unusual location of the summons and complaint. We are not persuaded. The documents were in the customary order for a mechanics lien foreclosure action. Wynne obviously had notice or concern about the nature of the documents served on him because he immediately contacted his local attorney regarding the papers. This case is distinguishable from Myers v. Food Town Stores, Inc. , 276 S.C. 571, 281 S.E. (2d) 108 (1981), wherein the Court held that the unusual location of the summons (which was buried on the inside back cover of the complaint) failed to fulfill the essential purpose of clearly placing respondent on notice of the time period in which to answer. Preoccupation with business matters is generally no defense for ignoring service of process. See Irick v. Carr , 243 S.C. 565, 135 S.E. (2d) 94 (1964). In our view, Wynne had sufficient notice of the action against him and the record does not support the trial judge's finding that the judgment was taken through excusable neglect. The trial court abused its discretion in setting aside the default judgment. Reversed and remanded. NESS, C.J., and GREGORY, HARWELL and CHANDLER, JJ., concur.