Petition to Open Default Denied Where Defendant Failed To Present Valid Excuse For Failure to Answer

In the case of PPL Electric Utilities Corp. v. EAN Holdings, LLC, No. 3806-CV-2023 (C.P. Monroe Co. April 30, 2024 Zulick, J.), the court denied a Defendant’s Petition to Open a Default Judgment.

The court denied the motion after holding that the Defendant failed to establish excusable negligence for its failure to timely answer the Plaintiff’s Complaint where the Defendant claimed only that it suffered difficulties in forwarding the service of process that was completed to Pennsylvania counsel after the Defendant was served out of state.

The court additionally rejected the Defendant’s challenge regarding the 10-Day Notice that the Plaintiff sent. The Defendant complained that no 10-Day Notice was filed of record with the court before the Plaintiff had the Praecipe for Default entered on the docket.

Judge Arthur L. Zulick
Monroe County 

However, Judge Zulick noted that Pa. R.C.P. 237.1 did not require Plaintiff to file anything of record when it sent the 10-Day Notice of Intent to Enter a Default Judgment. Rather, the Rule only required the Plaintiff to certify within the Praecipe to enter a default judgment that a 10-Day Notice had been sent.  The record before the Court confirmed that the Plantiff had followed this required procedure.

Based on these reasons, the court denied the Defendant’s Petition to Open a Default Judgment.

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Source: The Legal Intelligencer Court of Common Pleas Case Alert at www.law.com
(July 10, 2024).