JAMIE LONDONO, APPELLANT,
v.
BIG LAKE NATIONAL BANK ITS SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO CLEWISTON NATIONAL BANK, APPELLEE
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A Florida appellate court reversed the denial of a motion to vacate a default judgment entered as a sanction for discovery violations. The court held that when a default is entered as a sanction for discovery violations (rather than for failure to answer), a party seeking to vacate need not allege meritorious defenses since those defenses are already pleaded in the answer.
A party need not allege meritorious defenses in a motion to vacate a default entered as a sanction for discovery violations, because such defenses have already been pleaded in the answer and are known to the opposing party. The requirement to plead meritorious defenses applies only to defaults entered for failure to answer.
[1] A motion to vacate a default judgment entered as a sanction for discovery violations may be granted upon a showing of excusable neglect for the discovery violations and n…
[2] A party seeking to vacate a default judgment entered for failure to answer must allege meritorious defenses.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The default for sanctions serves a completely different purpose than the default entered where the defendant has failed to answer at all.”
Establishes the distinction between sanctions defaults and failure-to-answer defaults that is central to the court's reasoning
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLondono failed to comply with a discovery order and did not appear at a hearing on a motion for sanctions due to clerical error resulting in non-recei…
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WARNER, C.J.
We reverse the trial court’s order denying a motion to yacate a default judgment on liability. The default was entered as a sanction for discovery violations. However, in the motion to set aside the judgment, appellant explained that he never received notice of the hearing on the motion due to clerical error. While the court determined that the motion to vacate contained sufficient verified allegations that his failure to comply with both the discovery order and his non-appearance at the sanction hearing was due to excusable neglect, the court found that the motion failed to allege that meritorious defenses exist and thus denied the motion as insufficient, citing Bay Convalescent Center, Inc. v. Carroll, 352 So. 2d 900 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977).
Bay Convalescent Center dealt with a default entered based upon no appearance after service. In such a case, no answer has been filed. Therefore, where the negligent party seeks to set aside a default, the party must set forth the meritorious defenses available to the claim. Neither party has uncovered any case in which a court required a party to include proposed defenses in a motion to vacate a default entered as a sanction for a discovery violation, as those defenses have already been pled in the answer. The default for sanctions serves a completely different purpose than the default entered where the defendant has failed to answer at all. The requirement of providing a verified statement of meritorious defenses should not be required where the defendant has already answered and the plaintiff knows the defenses being asserted.
As the trial court found sufficient the allegations of excusable neglect in failing to respond both to the discovery and to the motion for sanctions that resulted in the default, we reverse, direct the vacation of the liability default, and remand for further proceedings in this case.
DELL and STONE, JJ., concur.