Opinion ID: 405927
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Method of proof

Text: 35 Where damages are unliquidated a default admits only defendant's liability and the amount of damages must be proved. Uva v. Evans, 83 Cal.App.3d 356, 147 Cal.Rptr. 795, 800 (1978) (damages must be proved in the trial court before the default judgment may be entered); Petty v. Manpower, Inc., 94 Cal.App.3d 794, 798, 156 Cal.Rptr. 622, 624 (1979) (damages except when fixed by contract must be proved); Cal.Code Civ.Pro. § 585(b) (procedure for default judgment: the court shall hear the evidence offered by plaintiff, and shall render judgment ... for such sum ... as appears by such evidence to be just). Fred contends that the sole method of proof of the value of the marital estate was that the California court took his failure to respond to Verone's request for admissions as being an admission of the facts stated therein. As Fred describes California law, once he was in default he no longer had a right to appear in court to respond to the request for admissions, see Jones v. Moers, 91 Cal.App. 65, 266 P. 821, 822 (1928), and therefore there was an entire lack of proof of the amount of relief. Assuming the truth of these contentions, this procedure is not grounds for collateral attack under either California or federal law. 36 (1) California law 37 Despite the mandatory nature of the requirement in Cal.Code Civ.Pro. § 585(b) that proof be taken to justify the amount of a default judgment, the requirement is not jurisdictional under California law and therefore does not subject an irregular default judgment to collateral attack. 14 The rule in California is that generally failure of the court to comply with the requirements of § 585(b) constitutes at most but an erroneous exercise of jurisdiction ... (and) not an absence of jurisdiction; ... (a) judgment entered by a court (not in conformity with § 585(b) ) is therefore merely voidable, and not void, and can only be attacked by appeal or motion made within six months thereafter. Baird v. Smith, 216 Cal. 408, 14 P.2d 749, 751 (1932). This general statement holds true for § 585(b)'s requirement of proof. An analogous provision is Cal. Civil Code § 4511, which requires in divorce proceedings that no decree of dissolution can be granted upon ... default ... but the court shall ... require proof of the grounds alleged. In Hamblin v. Superior Court, 195 Cal. 364, 233 P. 337, 341 (1925), the court held that a failure to comply with the requirements of this section would not render the judgment void but results in mere error, correctible only by means of a direct attack. Moreover, outside of the default context the California Supreme Court has twice stated that even a judgment entered without a trial cannot be attacked collaterally. Gray v. Hall, 203 Cal. 306, 313, 265 P. 246, 251 (1928); Ex Parte Bennett, 44 Cal. 84, 87 (1872).(2) Federal principles 38 Under federal law, Fred contends that the total lack of competent proof of the value of the marital estate is grounds for denying full faith and credit because the lack of proof violates due process of law. A judgment rendered in violation of due process is indeed void and therefore need not be enforced under 28 U.S.C. § 1738 or the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution. Kremer v. Chemical Construction Corp., --- U.S. ----, ---- & n.24, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1897 & n.24, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982) (A state may not grant preclusive effect ... to a constitutionally infirm judgment and other state and federal courts are not required to accord full-faith-and-credit to such a judgment.); Wetmore v. Karrick, 205 U.S. 141, 149, 27 S.Ct. 434, 436, 51 L.Ed. 745 (1907) (full faith and credit does not apply to a judgment rendered without jurisdiction or otherwise wanting in due process of law); Simer v. Rios, 661 F.2d 655, 663 (7th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 1773, 72 L.Ed.2d 177 (1982); Compton v. Alton Steamship Co., 608 F.2d 96, 106 (4th Cir. 1979); VTA, Inc. v. Airco, Inc., 597 F.2d 220, 224-25 (10th Cir. 1979); O'Boyle v. Bevil, 259 F.2d 506, 516 (5th Cir. 1958), cert. denied, 359 U.S. 913, 79 S.Ct. 590, 3 L.Ed.2d 576 (1959) (Cameron, J., concurring); Bass v. Hoagland, 172 F.2d 205, 209 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 338 U.S. 816, 70 S.Ct. 57, 94 L.Ed. 494 (1949) (a judgment, whether in a civil or criminal case, reached without due process of law is without jurisdiction and void, and attackable collaterally ... by resistance to its enforcement if a civil judgment); 1B Moore's Federal Practice P 0.406(2), p. 905; 7 id. at P 60.25(2), p. 309-11. 39 The due process requirements in a civil case where only property interests are at stake are, of course, much less stringent than in a criminal case involving life and liberty interests. Thus ordinarily all that due process requires in a civil case is proper notice and service of process and a court of competent jurisdiction; procedural irregularities during the course of a civil case, even serious ones, will not subject the judgment to collateral attack. See Windsor v. McVeigh, 93 U.S. 274, 282, 23 L.Ed. 914 (1876); 7 Moore's, supra, at P 60.25(2), p. 309-10. However, a departure from established modes of procedure (can) render the judgment void, Windsor, supra, 93 U.S. at 283, where the procedural defects are of sufficient magnitude to constitute a violation of due process, or, as sometimes more circularly put, where the defects are so unfair as to deprive the ... proceedings of vitality, Eagles v. U. S., 329 U.S. 304, 314, 67 S.Ct. 313, 319, 91 L.Ed. 308 (1946), or where the procedural irregularities are serious enough to be deemed jurisdictional, Yale v. National Indemnity Co., 602 F.2d 642, 644 (4th Cir. 1979); Recent Cases, 62 Harv.L.Rev. 1400, 1401 (1949). See generally Restatement of the Law of Judgments § 8 (1942). 40 The leading case allowing collateral attack of a default judgment for procedural errors during the course of a jurisdictionally proper proceeding is Bass v. Hoagland, 172 F.2d 205 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 359 U.S. 816, 70 S.Ct. 57, 94 L.Ed. 494 (1949), noted in Recent Cases, 62 Harv.L.Rev. 1400. In Bass the plaintiff sued to enforce a default judgment obtained in another federal court. In the original trial court the defendant appeared, answered, and requested a jury trial. Defense counsel then withdrew. On the day of trial defendant was not present. The trial judge treated the defendant in default because of the earlier withdrawal of his counsel and entered judgment for the plaintiff in the precise amount requested in his complaint, without a jury trial and apparently without taking any evidence. Defendant was not aware of the trial date, was given no notice prior to the entry of the default judgment, and was fraudulently not informed of the judgment until more than two years after it was entered. The court held that the combination of these errors resulted in a denial of due process. 15 41 The alleged procedural errors in the instant case, although they are serious and seem to present a case of injustice, Bass, supra, 172 F.2d at 208, do not approach the level of irregularity found in Bass to constitute a due process violation. In Bass the initial entry of default was held invalid because it was entered for improper grounds. Id. at 209-10. 16 This alone might warrant collateral attack. See Hovey v. Elliott, 167 U.S. 409, 17 S.Ct. 841, 42 L.Ed. 215 (1897) (holding default judgment subject to collateral attack where entered improperly as a punishment for contempt); Windsor v. McVeigh, 93 U.S. 274, 23 L.Ed. 914 (1876) (same for default entered because defendant was a confederate). Here Fred was properly found in default for failing to answer. The Bass court also found that, even if entry of default was proper, entry of the default judgment was not preceded by three days notice as required by federal rules. Id. at 209, 210. In this case Fred was notified prior to the determination of the property issues. Also, unlike the defendant in Bass, Fred was served with the property division judgment and therefore might have appealed it or moved to set it aside under the more lenient six month rules. See Cal.Code Civ.Pro. § 473 (allowing relief from judgment within six months for, inter alia, surprise and excusable neglect). Finally, in Bass the court gave considerable emphasis to the denial of the defendant's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. 172 F.2d at 209, 210. Unlike in Bass, Fred does not claim a constitutional right to a jury trial in the California state court, nor did Fred make a demand for a jury trial. 42 The only respect in which this case and Bass are similar is the allegation that there was a total lack of evidence to support the amount of the award. 17 This is not a sufficient irregularity under federal principles to subject the California judgment to collateral attack. First, there is no indication from Bass that the lack of evidence on damages alone would have subjected the judgment to collateral attack. This was one of many defects recited by the court as leading to the conclusion that due process was not afforded. See 172 F.2d at 209. Second, regardless of what due process requires where a defendant has not defaulted, 18 the Supreme Court has stated that no hearing at all is required by the due process clause when a defendant is in default. Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 378, 91 S.Ct. 780, 786, 28 L.Ed.2d 113 (1971). 19 Because Fred was properly held in default no hearing on damages was required by procedural due process; therefore any deficiencies in the proof of damages did not deny Fred the process he was due. Finally, Fred was not entirely foreclosed from presenting proof of the value of his estate. Even assuming he was barred from appearing at the damage hearing while in default, he might have moved to vacate the default 20 or to set aside the default judgment, and he might have appealed the default judgment. See note 14 supra. 43 The holding in Bass is a rare exception to the normal rules of collateral attack. 6 Moore's, supra, at P 55.09, p. 204 (an occasional atypical case not establishing a general rule); 7 id. at P 60.25(2), p. 309-11. While the principle of Bass has full effect in this court, Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), it does not apply on this set of facts. 21 44 No lesser ground than a judgment rendered in violation of due process will suffice for collateral attack in this case. Fred contends that collateral attack is allowed in order to avoid manifest injustice. Garner v. Giarrusso, 571 F.2d 1330, 1336 (5th Cir. 1978); Tipler v. E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co., 443 F.2d 125, 128 (6th Cir. 1971). The authorities cited for this proposition all arise in the administrative agency context, however, where principles of res judicata do not apply with as great a rigor but instead the traditional doctrine ... (is) qualified or relaxed to whatever extent is desirable for making it a proper and useful tool for administrative justice. K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 18.03, p. 553 (1958). In civil court cases, while there might be isolated instances where the principles of res judicata do not apply with full force, see 1B Moore's, supra, at PP 0.405(11), (12), there is no general equitable exception to the doctrine, Federated Department Stores, Inc. v. Moitie, 452 U.S. 394, 401, 101 S.Ct. 2424, 2429, 69 L.Ed.2d 103, 110 (1981), and the facts of this case do not fall within any of the developed exceptions, see Key v. Wise, 629 F.2d 1049, 1067 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 682, 70 L.Ed.2d 647 (1981); compare 1B Moore's, supra, at PP 0.405(11), (12). 22 45