Opinion ID: 1658129
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: law did the circuit judge err in vacating the default judgment?

Text: The answer to this question must come from an analysis of Rule 55 and Rule 60(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure (MRCP), and decisions of the United States courts construing Rule 55 and Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) containing provisions essentially identical with out state rules. The pertinent provisions of Rule 55 read: Rule 55 (a) Entry. When a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend as provided by these rules and that fact is made to appear by affidavit or otherwise, the clerk shall enter his default. (b) Judgment. In all cases the party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the court therefor... . If in order to enable the court to enter judgment or to carry it into effect it is necessary to take an account or to determine the amount of damages or to establish the truth of any averment by evidence or to make an investigation of any other matter, the court may conduct such hearing with or without a jury, in the court's discretion, or order such references as it deems necessary and proper. (c) Setting Aside Default. For good cause shown, the court may set aside an entry of default and, if a judgment by default has been entered, may likewise set it aside in accordance with Rule 60(b). Rule 55(a) of the FRCP is identical to our state rule. Rule 55(b) of FRCP, authorizes the clerk to also enter a judgment if default of the sum due is certain. Both the Federal and our state Rule 55(c) are identical. The plaintiff in this case acted within Rule 55 in demanding, and the circuit judge followed it in granting a default judgment. More than thirty days after personal service on Walters, Bryant filed a request for default, supported by proper affidavit. The clerk entered default. The next day the circuit judge entered a default judgment. Walters having failed to file any response, these procedings were in literal compliance with the rule. [1] Final judgment having been entered against Walters, much more was required of Walters to get it set aside than would have been the case if only a default had been entered. This entails an examination of the pertinent portions of Rule 60(b): Rule 60 RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT OR ORDER (b) Mistakes; Inadvertence; Newly Discovered Evidence; Fraud, etc. On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or his legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons:       (2) accident or mistake;       (4) judgment is void;       (6) any other reason justifying relief from the judgment It should be noted that our Rule 60(b)(2) is different from Federal Rule 60(b)(1) [2] , as follows: our state rule authorizes relief upon a showing of accident or mistake and the Federal rule grants authority upon a showing of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Mississippi Rule 60(b)(4) and (6) and the Federal rule are identical. The circuit judge made an analysis of whether the default judgment should be set aside under the accident or mistake criteria and found Walters was not entitled to have the judgment set aside for this reason. In setting aside a judgment on this basis, a circuit judge is necessarily vested with discretionary power. See: Horace v. St. Louis Southwestern R. Company, 489 F.2d 632 (8th C.A.Ark. 1974); Wilkin v. Sunbeam Corp., 466 F.2d 714 (10th C.A.Kan. 1972); Parker v. Broadcast Music, Inc., 289 F.2d 313 (2nd C.A.N.Y. 1961). The record reveals the circuit judge conducted a thorough hearing and acted within his discretion in declining to set aside the judgment on this ground. We are not at liberty to disturb his finding on this basis. [3] Although not cited by the circuit judge in declining to set aside the judgment on this ground, buttressing his decision is the general rule that a judgment will not be set aside in the absence of an allegation of, and showing that the defendant has a meritorious defense. This has been the rule in our pre-rules cases, and is the interpretation given by the Federal courts of the Federal rule. See: Planters' Lumber Company v. Sibley, 130 Miss. 26, 93 So. 440 (1922); Alexander v. Hyland, 208 Miss. 890, 45 So.2d 739 (1950); and Ponder v. O'Neal Electric Company, 214 So.2d 453 (Miss. 1968); Central Operating Company v. Utility Workers of America, AFL-CIO, 491 F.2d 245 (C.A.W. Va. 1974); Design & Development, Inc. v. Vibromatic Mfg., Inc., 58 F.R.D. 71 (D.C.Pa. 1973). Walters made an affidavit that he had a meritorious defense. At the hearing, however, he failed to show that in his dealings with Bryant he disclosed to him he was acting as agent of, and on behalf of the Walters corporation. If an agent wishes to escape personal liability, he is under a positive duty to clearly disclose, and (in the absence of knowledge) not the duty of the third party to find out on his own, that he, the agent, is not acting for himself, but on behalf of a principal. See: Hatley Mfg. Company v. Smith, 154 Miss. 846, 123 So. 887 (1929); Kelly v. Guess, 157 Miss. 157, 127 So. 274 (1929). In this connection it is significant that Bryant's attorney wrote the demand letter on March 28, 1984, to Walters individually, to which there was no reply. If Walters considered the debt due, as he later stipulated and testified, but by the corporation and not by himself, his silence on the point in March, 1984, is manifestly strange.