PLAINTIFF WON DEFAULT JUDGMENT BY PROOF OF SERVICE IN NEWS PAPER. IS THIS LEGAL?

V

Vince R

New member
i have a company that won a default judgment against me. The claim to have tried to serve me at my residence but claim the never located me. Then they got permission from the court to place a notification in a dying News paper in town to show they attempted. i have never been served and I filed a motion to vacate default judgment. I also filed an answer to the plaintiffs complaint. The plaintiff responded to my motion by asking that the ruling stand as every attempt was made to serve me. (they didn;t try very hard) I learned about the judgment only after the court mailed me documentation. I can beat this cases. Do I have a chance? And please " no contact an attorney"
 
In general, most jurisdictions allow a Plaintiff to serve a Summons by publication in a newspaper. However, before they can do so, they need to seek the court's permission. The court will want to know what steps the Plaintiff has taken to find you, and will make a decision from there. It sounds like the Plaintiff did that in this case and the court allowed the service by publication. If so, its perfectly legal.

Now, you have asked that the default judgment be vacated. That's a good start. So long as you can show the court that you didn't receive notice (ie, the notice was published in the newspaper of a town where you don't live) then you should be able to get the judgment vacated. The courts don't like to deprive people of their day in court. In my experience, the courts always set aside a default judgment so long as the person wasn't just ignoring the case and it appears that they will defend the case. I'd say your chances are pretty good that the judgment will be set aside.

Good luck.
 
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