QUESTION
Is it legal for a judge to reinstate a case after judgement has been rendered?
Asked on Apr 29th, 2014 on Civil Litigation - Oregon
More details to this question:
I'm the plaintiff in a small claims case. The defendant did not appear during the set trial date. I was awarded the full amount. Thirty days later after attempting to collect I received a letter from the circuit court saying I need to appear for a mediation meeting because they were reinstating the case due to the defendant not receiving her mail. Basically defendant claimed she did not know their was a trial date set because she has 2 businesses & only received mail from 1 location. The location not being the one court papers were sent to. Is it legal for the courts to reinstate the case 60 days after ruling?
1 ANSWER
Yes. Courts like to decide matters on the merits, not on default. Moreover, if the defendant did not receive notice of the trial, the Court may not have had jurisdiction over her in the first place, which means that the original judgment was a nullity.
Answered on Apr 30th, 2014 at 2:55 PM