McGrady v. D'Andrea Electric, Inc., 30259 Summary Calendar.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 30259 Summary Calendar.,30259 Summary Calendar. |
| Citation | 434 F.2d 1000 |
| Parties | Thomas L. McGRADY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. D'ANDREA ELECTRIC, INC., Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Dennis R. Deloach, Jr., of Fisher, Sauls, Adcock & Keough, Seminole, Fla., for appellant.
Guillermo A. Ruiz, Brown, Ruiz, Watson & Goldstein, St. Petersburg, Fla., for appellee.
Before THORNBERRY, MORGAN and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from the trial court's denial of defendant's motion to set aside a default judgment. The complaint in the instant suit was filed on June 17, 1968, and subsequently default was entered for failure to appear or answer. On December, 17, 1968, however, an order was entered vacating the default for a technical failure in service of process on the defendant. The summons was then reissued and the defendant corporation was served again on January 17, 1969. On January 24, 1969, the defendant corporation filed an "answer" in the form of a letter from its president denying the allegations of the complaint. On March 24, 1969, pursuant to notice given to the parties, a pretrial conference was held. No representative from D'Andrea attended this conference. An order was entered after the conference directing the Clerk to enter default against the defendant because the letter of January 24 from the company's president did not constitute an answer and because a representative of the defendant failed to appear at the pretrial conference. Default was entered against the defendant on March 26, 1969. On April 7, 1969, the defendant through its attorney filed a timely motion to set aside the default, alleging certain defenses to the complaint. The motion was denied on November 7, 1969. Final judgment awarding damages to the plaintiff was entered April 17, 1970. The defendant appealed. We affirm.
The record in this case discloses sufficient evidence of appellant's delay and failure to comply with court rules to justify the entry of a default pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. Rule 55. There is considerable disagreement between the parties over whether the appellant's letter of January 24, 1969 satisfied the fundamental requirements of an answer set forth in F.R.Civ.P. Rule 8. We deem it unnecessary to decide whether appellant's purported "answer" was adequate, however, for the district court also based its order on the appellant's failure to appear at pretrial conference. There is ample authority to uphold a district court's...
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...Elecs. Imps., Inc., 740 F.2d 1499, 1512 (11th Cir.1984). Default has been entered and affirmed for less. In McGrady v. D'Andrea Elec., Inc., 434 F.2d 1000 (5th Cir.1970), the defendant corporation filed as its purported answer a letter from its president denying the allegations of the compl......
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... ... Mary Kay, Inc. v. Dunlap, No. 3:12-CV-0029-D, 2012 ... 2018) (ultimately citing McGrady ... v. D'Andrea Elec., Inc., 434 F.2d ... ...
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...after defendant failed to obtain new counsel, although entry of judgment did not occur for another year); McGrady v. D'Andrea Elec., Inc., 434 F.2d 1000, 1001 (5th Cir.1970) (failure to appear at pretrial conference is ground for Rule 55 default); Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. v. Continental Rec......
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