Opinion
No. 5-413 / 04-1229
Filed June 15, 2005
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Jeffrey L. Larson, Judge.
Respondent-appellant, John Riggs, appeals from the district court's denial of his "motion to set aside and/or vacate default judgment." AFFIRMED.
John C. Riggs, Lincoln, Nebraska, appellant pro se.
Bonnie Marsh, Arvada, Colorado, appellee pro se.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Huitink and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
Respondent-appellant, John Riggs, appeals from the district court's denial of his "motion to set aside and/or vacate default judgment." The district court determined his May 10, 2004 motion relating to a March 25, 1998 default judgment was untimely. We affirm.
Motions to set aside or vacate default judgments are triable at law. Hastings v. Espinosa, 340 N.W.2d 603, 607 (Iowa Ct.App. 1983). Our review is on error. Id. at 608. A motion to set aside a default judgment "must be filed promptly after the discovery of the grounds thereof, but not more than 60 days after entry of the judgment." Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.977. A petition to vacate or modify a judgment "must be filed and served in the original action within one year after the entry of the judgment or order involved." Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.1013.
A review of the district court file in this case shows a default judgment was entered on March 25, 1998. A motion to set aside and/or vacate was filed on April 15, 1998 by appellant's counsel at the time. On April 16, the court issued an order setting a hearing on the motion for May 4, 1998 at 3:15 p.m. There is no indication the hearing ever occurred or that the court made any decision on the motion. Six years later, on May 10, 2004, appellant filed his pro se motion to set aside and/or vacate. Following a hearing on July 8, 2004, the court filed its ruling on July 13 denying the motion as untimely. Finding no error of law, we affirm.