Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Ohio
I received a summons for a debt collection and failed to submit an answer in the alloted time. Today I received a copy of the plaintiffs motion for default judgment. The court has not ruled on anything as of yet. My question is if I can file a motion to set aside default judgment so I can submit my answer and defense. The reason I have is that during that time my 2 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia and stayed at the hospital for 2 weeks straight and then still having to go to hospital every day for treatment. Going through all this with my son allowed me to easily forget about the answer. Would this reason work for the motion to set aside? Or will they say it takes little time to answer and I should have made time for it?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If the Court has not yet granted a default judgement, you may want to file a motion requesting additional time to file your answer out of rule. If the Court does grant the Plaintiff's Motion for Default Judgement, you will want to file a motion to set aside the judgement in accordance with civil rule 60.
This response is based on the limited facts you have provided and is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. I cannot provide adequate advice to you without meeting with you in person. If you would like to schedule a free consultation, please feel free to contact me.
Mr. Gurtner is correct. If the court has not already granted default judgment then there is nothing to set aside. Further courts prefer to rule upon cases upon their merits rather than on missed procedural deadlines. You can argue in your motion to file your answer out of rule that your opponent has not been prejudiced by the slight delay and that Ohio law expresses a clear preference to decisions upon merits.
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