Ryan v. Johnson

⁷² Bruñe, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question here is whether or not the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to grant the defendant’s motion to strike out a judgment in favor of the plaintiff entered by default in a suit in assumpsit, in which the plaintiff filed with his declaration a motion for summary judgment, a notice to plead and an affidavit in support of the motion, to which was appended a statement of the plaintiff’s claim. (See Maryland Rule 610.) The suit was filed on September 12, 1958, the defendant was returned as having been summoned on September 20th, the return day was October 6th, and the time for pleading expired fifteen days thereafter. No plea or answer to the motion was filed within that time.

On October 22nd, 1958, judgment by default for want of a plea was entered, and on the same day judgment in favor of the plaintiff was extended for the amount of his claim, $513.11, plus interest and costs. . On October 29th, 1958, the defendant filed a motion to strike out the judgment, which was supported by her affidavit, and on November 21st, after a hearing, the motion was denied. This appeal followed, and is from both the denial of the motion to strike and the judgment. The motion and affidavit alleged among other things that the defendant had turned the papers in the case over to her counsel, that due to an inadvertence on his part he miscalculated the time for pleading, that as a result thereof he was three days late in filing (or seeking to file) a demurrer (the ground of which is neither stated nor apparent), and that on October 24th, after judgment had been entered, the clerk of the court refused to accept the demurrer.

The motion further asserted that the defendant had a meritorious defense, that she denied having promised to repay the plaintiff for the amounts of the two bills against her which he had paid for her and that the suit was “motivated by the fact that the plaintiff and the defendant are no longer ‘keeping company’.” The defendant’s affidavit in support of the motion, which is referred to but not printed in the record extract (though it should have been), states more clearly what we think is ⁷³ fairly inferable from the motion—that the defense was that the payments by the plaintiff constituted gifts. The motion to strike the judgment was filed within the thirty-day period during which the trial court had revisory power over its judgment in a civil case under Rule 625. In his opinion denying the motion, the trial court expressed the view that the defendant must show a “very meritorious defense” and then appears to have held that the defense proffered was not even a valid defense. His oral opinion concludes as follows: “In this case, looking at the proceedings and what has been told by counsel, it looks as though here [were] a boy friend and girl friend [who] broke up, and he made certain advances according to her statement which were as gifts; but her property was improved and she’s got the benefit of the improvements.

It looks as though all she can say to him is that he is an Indian Giver, but the motion to strike out the judgment will have to be overruled.” [Punctuation somewhat altered from that appearing in the record extract.] We think that the asserted defense that the payments were gifts, if substantiated, would constitute a valid and meritorious defense. See Restatement, Restitution, § 58, which states: “A person who has conferred a benefit upon another, manifesting that he does not expect compensation therefor, is not entitled to restitution merely because his expectation that an existing relation will continue or that a future relation will come into existence is not realized, unless the conferring of the benefit is conditioned thereon.” Since the trial court appears to have proceeded upon a contrary view of what would constitute a valid defense, we think that the denial of an opportunity to present the defense here asserted resulted in an abuse of the court’s discretion in refusing to strike out the judgment. The case, we think, meets the test