The Nebraska Court of Appeals has issued an important decision that clarifies the right to set aside default judgments, regardless of how old the judgment is, when the defendant had no actual service of the lawsuit papers. Well, the issue is now clear, except when it is not clear, which is to say I’m confused again.
In Capital One Bank vs. Lehmann, the defendant, Nelseena J. Lehman was sued in November of 2009 for $2,942.37 for an unpaid credit card account. The court summons was sent by Certified Mail and was signed by her estranged husband who did not inform her of the lawsuit. Since Lehmann did not respond to the lawsuit, a motion for default judgment was awarded in February 2010.
Lehmann claims that she had no actual notice of the lawsuit since she moved to Oklahoma in September of 2009 and did not return to Nebraska until June of 2011. Upon receiving a garnishment notice she motioned the court to set aside the default judgment in June 2014. That motion was denied and Lehmann filed her appeal.
The first half of the court ruling gives great assurance that default judgments obtained without notice to the defendant may be set aside at any time. “A judgment entered without personal jurisdiction is void.” The court cites the case of Ehlers vs. Grove, 147 Neb. 704 (1946) to underscore the basic rule that “every court possesses the inherent power to vacate void judgment, either during...
