Opinion ID: 2032518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Has the Court Acted Illegally?

Text: Certiorari is an action at law and our review is limited to determining whether the district court properly applied the law to the controversy before it. See Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. v. Iowa Dist. Court, 426 N.W.2d 142, 143 (Iowa 1988); Patterson v. Keleher, 365 N.W.2d 22, 24 (Iowa 1985); Bevers v. Kilburg, 326 N.W.2d 902, 904 (Iowa 1982). The burden is upon the city to prove the illegality alleged; [t]he fact that a different or opposite result may have been fully justified by the record is of no importance. A trial de novo is not ordinarily permitted on certiorari. Carstensen v. Board of Trustees, 253 N.W.2d 560, 562 (Iowa 1977) (citations omitted). In other words, we can sustain the writ before us only if we find as a matter of law that the district court had jurisdiction over the named defendants in these housing code actions and that the court had no other valid basis for denying the city's requested default judgments. Central to the city's argument is its claim that, in the absence of appearance or answer by any of the defendants, the court was without discretion to deny the judgments sought. The claim rests on the faulty premise that the court had no right or grounds to question the returns of service tendered by the city as the basis for entry of default. To the contrary, even though the court's delay in voicing its objections borders on inexcusable, its reluctance to enter defaults until assured of jurisdiction was entirely proper. See Peralta v. Heights Medical Center, Inc., 485 U.S. ___, ___, 108 S.Ct. 896, 899-900, 99 L.Ed.2d 75, 81-82 (1988) (judgment entered without notice or service is constitutionally infirm under due process clause of fourteenth amendment). Without jurisdiction, the court would have no authority to enter default; entry of default is a prerequisite to entry of default judgment. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 230, 232; 47 Am.Jur.2d Judgments § 1153 at 185 (1969) (entry of default does not constitute judgment, but rather precludes defaulting party from defending on issue of liability); cf. Fed.R. Civ.P. 55 (1982). We cannot say as a matter of law that the court abused its discretion by questioning the service here. We have repeatedly stated that entry of default is largely within the discretion of the trial court, consistent with the policy favoring trial of actions on the merits. Kohorst v. Iowa State Commerce Comm'n, 348 N.W. 2d 619, 623 (Iowa 1984); Johnson v. Gib's Western Kitchen, 338 N.W.2d 872, 874 (Iowa 1983); Avery v. Peterson, 243 N.W. 2d 630, 631-32, 634 (Iowa 1976). Applying this rule to the present case, we first address the city's complaint that the court erroneously considered extrajudicial news accounts of the Picketts' plight. [2] In view of the court's duty to determine that a party in default is not under legal disability, see Iowa R.Civ.P. 231, we think an inquiry regarding the Picketts' status was justifiable. Nor can we find fault in the court's concern for the identity of the proper defendant in the Williams' matter, or the current status of a Minnesota estate open more than four years in the Estes case. Claiming the court's concern for these defendants exceeded the bounds of its discretion, the city cites Windus v. Great Plains Gas, 255 Iowa 587, 122 N.W. 2d 901 (1963) where, in response to a plaintiff's attempt to vacate a dismissal, we said: The rule that courts favor trials on the merits should be qualified to read that courts favor expeditious trials on the merits, under settled rules of procedure. It should not be stretched to the point where a judgment will be vacated when the petitioner, through his counsel, has ignored plain mandates of the rule with ample opportunity to abide by them. To do so would be to abrogate the rule and to reward negligence or inattention. Id. at 600, 122 N.W.2d at 909. Had the city made any attempt to satisfy the district court that service upon Pickett, Williams, or Estes was complete, the court's failure to enter default judgments might be construed as inequitably rewarding the defendants for negligence or inattention, the evil we sought to avoid in Windus. But the city has resisted the court's efforts to move forward with these actions, despite ample opportunity to re-serve the defendants if necessary, answer the court's questions, or otherwise comply with its orders. From its recalcitrance below, through the pursuit of certiorari in this court, the city has engaged in counterproductive conduct that we are similarly disinclined to reward. Its reliance on Windus is misplaced. Finally, we address the city's complaint that by requiring additional notice to Pickett and Williams prior to default, the court went beyond the notice required by the rules of civil procedure and hence acted illegally. The city correctly asserts that there is no requirement that notice of hearing be given anyone prior to entry of default judgment where there has been personal service of original notice. Claeys v. Moldenschardt, 260 Iowa 36, 44, 148 N.W.2d 479, 494 (1967); accord Kreft v. Fisher Aviation, Inc., 264 N.W.2d 297, 301, 304 (Iowa 1978); Hansman v. Gute, 215 N.W.2d 339, 343-45 (Iowa 1974). However, neither our rules of procedure nor common law preclude a request for supplemental notice where, as here, the court reasonably questions its jurisdiction to proceed by default. The assignment of error is without merit.