The court should exercise with caution the discretion to grant relief from judgment, including vacating dismissals and removing defaults.
Commentary
Within one year of the date of judgment, the court may grant relief from judgment or from any order "for want of actual notice to a party, for error, or for any other cause that the court may deem sufficient," and may condition relief upon any reasonable condition. See amended Uniform Small Claims Rule 8. The court may not grant such relief ex parte. The opposing party must be given an opportunity to be heard in opposition to a request for relief from judgment. Although Mass. R. Civ. P. 59 (New Trials) and 60 (Relief from Judgment or Order) do not apply to small claims, case law applying Rules 59 and 60 may appropriately guide a clerk-magistrate or judge’s discretion in granting relief from judgment in a small claim.
A plaintiff seeking to vacate a dismissal for failure to appear for trial (see Standard 6:01) or a defendant seeking to remove a default judgment (see Standard 6:02) must file a motion for relief from the judgment pursuant to Rule 8 within the one year period. The court must require a showing of sufficient cause before permitting a plaintiff to bring the claim again or vacating a defendant's default. The court must be wary not to permit simplified small claims procedures and the nominal filing fee to be used by a negligent or ill-willed plaintiff to harass a defendant or abuse the process itself. McLaughlin v. Levenbaum, 248 Mass. 170, 176 (1924). Likewise, the fact that a small claims defendant may have a meritorious excuse why he or she did not appear in court as required, is not, of itself, sufficient reason to require the removal of a default. Younis v. Mario Musto Corp., 1979 Mass. App. Dec. 240, 243 (S. Dist.) See also, Maguire v. Quality Foreign Cars, Inc. 54 Mass. App. Dec. 76, 81, 82 (N. Dist. 1974) wherein refusal to remove default was upheld where judge found that defendant’s attorney intentionally harassed the plaintiff by phoning the court to ask that case be held until later.
Even if a party can show sufficient cause for the failure to appear, the court may consider an award of costs for lost wages and other out-of-pocket expenses to the opposing party who appeared in good faith at the initially scheduled court date. See amended Uniform Small Claim Rule 8.