Court Opinion

ID: 9624786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:17:36.222109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:54.500032
License: Public Domain

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting.
As I disagree with the majority that the trial court had the authority to render a default judgment in this case, I respectfully dissent.
According to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-279.21(b)(3)a., an “insurer shall be bound by a final judgment taken by the insured against an uninsured motorist if the insurer has been served with copy of summons, complaint or other process in the action against the uninsured motorist.” N.C.G.S. § 20-279.21(b)(3)a. (2001). Furthermore, “[n]o default judgment shall be entered when the insurer has timely filed an *711answer or other pleading as required by law.” Id. By extension, absent notice to the insurer, the trial court may not enter a default judgment against the tortfeasor, as the protections afforded an insurer who files an answer would be meaningless without the right to notice. This is so because without notice the insurer would be unaware of the lawsuit and its opportunity to file an answer. Accordingly, without notice to defendant-insurer in this case, the trial court had “no authority to render the judgment entered,” and the default judgment is therefore void. Burton v. Blanton, 107 N.C. App. 615, 616, 421 S.E.2d 381, 382 (1992) (“[a] judgment is void . . . when the issuing court . . . has no authority to render the judgment entered”). As such, the trial court erred by failing to grant defendant relief from judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b)(4), see N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 60(b)(4) (2001) (the trial court may relieve a party from a final judgment if “[t]he judgment is void”), and the default judgment should be vacated.