Meyers v. Hansen

221 P.3d 81, 148 Idaho 283, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 216
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 27, 2009
Docket35534
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 221 P.3d 81 (Meyers v. Hansen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyers v. Hansen, 221 P.3d 81, 148 Idaho 283, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 216 (Idaho 2009).

Opinion

W. JONES, Justice.

I. Nature of the Case

George Hansen appeals from the denial of his Motion for Relief from Default Judgment. Ann T. Meyers, the respondent, obtained a default in an action against Hansen for securities fraud in 1993. Meyers filed for default judgment several years later in 2001. Hansen asserts that he did not learn of the Default Judgment entered against him until long after the district court entered an Order of Renewed Default Judgment in 2006. He contends that the default judgment should be vacated because it was entered in violation of his procedural due process rights and his rights to notice under the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure. He also argues that it would be inequitable for the Default Judgment to have prospective effect.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

The respondents, Ann T. Meyers and her late husband, James Meyers, lost nearly $300,000 in an investment scheme orchestrated by the appellant, George Hansen. George Hansen is a former U.S. congressman from Idaho.

On February 22, 1993, Meyers filed an action against Hansen as well as Jack and Kathleen Lott, co-investors who had allegedly violated securities regulations by inducing Meyers into making the investment. 1 Hansen was personally served on August 23, 1993, while serving a federal prison sentence for securities fraud in Petersburg, Virginia, but did not answer or otherwise enter an appearance. Hansen claims he does not remember receiving the personal service. The following month, the district court entered an Order of Entry of Default against Hansen, which was served on September 21, 1993. Hansen was released from prison in 1995.

*287 After a trial in September of 2000, the jury found in favor of the Lotts, leaving Hansen as the sole defendant. The Judgment on Jury Verdict stated that Meyers’s complaint was dismissed with prejudice. A year later, Meyers filed an Application for Default Judgment against Hansen that did not contain his certified address and for which no notice was provided. Default judgment was granted on September 25, 2001, without service, and an Order for Renewed Default Judgment was granted on May 16, 2006, again without service. Both orders provide that interest shall continue to accrue at the statutory rate. 2 Meyers then initiated collection proceedings. The Order for Examination of Debtor was personally served upon Hansen’s wife at their home in Pocatello, Idaho, on September 12, 2006. Hansen resisted the collection proceedings by immediately filing two pro se Requests for Excuse from Attending Debt- or’s Exam on September 20, 2006, and October 31, 2006. 3

Despite receiving service of the Order for Examination of Debtor in 2006 and despite filing pro se motions to resist the Debtor’s Exam in late 2006, Hansen claims that he did not know of the Default Judgment until April of 2007. Hansen obtained counsel in early 2007, and on February 25, 2008, filed a Motion for Relief from Default Judgment pursuant to I.R.C.P. 55(c), which was denied. He appeals the denial of his motion, claiming that the Default Judgment is void under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(4) because entering the default judgment without notice violates his constitutional rights to procedural due process as well as his statutory rights to notice under 1.R.C.P. 55(b)(2). He also contends that, under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(5), it would be inequitable for the default judgment to have prospective effect. Last, he argues that the default judgment should be vacated because the district court’s Judgment on Jury Verdict dismissed Meyers’s “complaint with prejudice,” implicitly dismissing her claims against Hansen as well.

III. Issues on Appeal

1. Whether the default judgment is void under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(4) for having been filed without notice as required by I.R.C.P. 55(b)(2).
2. Whether it is inequitable under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(5) for the default judgment to have prospective effect.
3. Whether it was a violation of procedural due process not to serve Hansen with notice of the default judgment, rendering it void under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(4).
4. Whether the Order on Jury Verdict in the trial of Hansen’s co-defendants, the Lotts, dismisses the claims against Hansen because it stated that it dismissed Meyers’s “complaint with prejudice.”
5. Whether Meyers is entitled to an award of attorney fees on appeal.

IV. Standard of Review

This Court reviews a denial of a motion to grant relief under I.R.C.P. 55(c) and 60(b) for abuse of discretion. Clear Springs Trout Co. v. Anthony, 123 Idaho 141, 143, 845 P.2d 559, 561 (1992). “Where the trial court makes factual findings that are not clearly erroneous, applies correct criteria pursuant to I.R.C.P. 55(e) to those facts, and makes a logical conclusion, the court will have acted within its discretion.” McGloon v. Gwynn, 140 Idaho 727, 729, 100 P.3d 621, 623 (2004) (citation omitted). “Because judgments by default are not favored, a trial court should grant relief in doubtful cases in order to decide the case on the merits.” Jonsson v. Oxborrow, 141 Idaho 635, 638, 115 P.3d 726, 729 (2005).

“Due process issues are generally questions of law, and this Court exercises free review over questions of law.” Kootenai Medical Ctr. v. Idaho Dep’t of Health and Welfare, 147 Idaho 872, 876, 216 P.3d 630, 634 (2009).

*288 Y. Analysis

A. The District Court Did Not Abuse its Discretion in Upholding the Default Judgment Despite It Being Filed Without Notice Under I.R.C.P. 55(b)(2)

Hansen asserts that he did not receive the notice of the default judgment required by I.R.C.P. 55(b)(2), which entitles parties that have entered an appearance to receive three-day notice. He contends that the default judgment is therefore void under I.R.C.P. 60(b)(4) and the court was therefore without discretion to deny him relief.

1. Hansen Was Not Entitled to the Three-Day Notice Because He Had Not Appeared in the Case

Under Rule 60(b)(4), “the court may relieve a party ... from a final judgment, order, or proceeding [if] ... the judgment is void.” I.R.C.P. 60(b). When a party has entered an appearance, that party must receive notice of an application for default judgment at least three days in advance of the hearing. I.R.C.P. 55(b)(2). 4 Hansen argues that he appeared in this case in 1997 when he attended a deposition as a witness called by Meyers’s attorney to prosecute her claims against Hansen’s co-defendants, the Lotts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
221 P.3d 81, 148 Idaho 283, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyers-v-hansen-idaho-2009.