FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed and remanded a default judgment in a civil case over a lease, saying the plaintiffs didn't try hard enough to find the defendant and serve the lawsuit.
Stephen and Ruth Hustead leased a house in Huntsville to Jerry Self, and after Self moved they filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract.
Their attorney filed an affidavit saying he had made due diligence to find Self, but was unsuccessful. He then had a warning order placed in the newspaper directing Self to appear in court. Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin entered a default judgment in April 2009 against Self for more than $27,000 and found Self in contempt of the default judgment in June 2016.
Self filed a motion to set aside the judgment, arguing he had no knowledge of the lawsuit, the default judgment or the show-cause hearing until after the fact. Self argued the Husteads' real estate agent had his phone number, he lived in Rogers and he had never lived at a Springdale address listed by the Husteads' attorney as Self's last known address. The motion was denied in October and Self appealed.
Appeals court justices found the affidavit for the warning order failed to show a sufficiently diligent inquiry was made to find Self and serve the complaint or that his whereabouts were unknown. They also found the Husteads failed to use available information to find Self.
The case was sent back with an order to set aside the default judgment.
NW News on 05/25/2017