Setting aside an Arkansas default judgment: no deadline, but you must show a meritorious defense

Arkansas keeps default judgments out of its relief-from-judgment rule altogether. Rule 60 governs everything else and imposes a ninety-day limit on the court's general power; default judgments go to Rule 55(c), which states no deadline at all.

What Rule 55(c) does state is a requirement most states leave to case law: you must demonstrate a meritorious defense. Unless the judgment is void — and then you need nothing else.

The four grounds

Ark. R. Civ. P. 55(c):

Setting Aside Default Judgments. The court may, upon motion, set aside a default judgment previously entered for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) the judgment is void; (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; or (4) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment. The party seeking to have the judgment set aside must demonstrate a meritorious defense to the action; however, if the judgment is void, no other defense to the action need be shown.

Four grounds rather than the usual six — Arkansas omits newly discovered evidence and the satisfied-or-no-longer-equitable ground, both of which sit in Rule 60 instead.

No time limit appears in Rule 55(c). That is genuinely unusual, and it is the practical reason a defaulted Arkansas defendant is in a better position than one in most states. But do not read it as an invitation to wait — the longer the delay, the harder the discretionary case.

The meritorious defense requirement

Two sentences, and the second is the escape:

The party seeking to have the judgment set aside must demonstrate a meritorious defense to the action; however, if the judgment is void, no other defense to the action need be shown.

So the motion has two components in the ordinary case: the ground, and the defense. A motion that explains why you missed the deadline but says nothing about the merits does not satisfy the rule.

Where the judgment is void — typically for defective service or want of jurisdiction — the second component drops away entirely. That makes ground (2) worth testing first in any case where service is questionable, quite apart from its other advantages.

Rule 60 is for everything else

Ark. R. Civ. P. 60(a):

Ninety-Day Limitation. To correct errors or mistakes or to prevent the miscarriage of justice, the court may modify or vacate a judgment, order or decree on motion of the court or any party, with prior notice to all parties, within ninety days of its having been filed with the clerk.

Ninety days from filing with the clerk — a broad power, but a short one, and it requires prior notice to all parties.

Rule 60(c) then handles what survives after ninety days, and its opening words put default judgments outside it:

Grounds for Setting Aside Judgment, Other Than Default Judgment, After Ninety Days. The court in which a judgment, other than a default judgment [which may be set aside in accordance with Rule 55(c)] has been rendered or order made shall have the power, after the expiration of ninety (90) days of the filing of said judgment with the clerk of the court, to vacate or modify such judgment or order:

The bracketed cross-reference is the whole point: a default judgment is set aside under Rule 55(c), not under Rule 60(c). Reading Rule 60's ninety days as your deadline is the most common Arkansas mistake.

If you were served constructively

Arkansas gives a defendant who never appeared a distinct route with generous timing. Rule 60(c)(2):

By a new trial granted in proceedings against defendants constructively summoned, and who did not appear, upon a motion filed within two years after the filing of the judgment with the clerk of the court, or within one year after a certified copy of the judgment has been served upon the defendant, whichever shall be the earlier, upon security for costs being given; provided notice of the filing of said motion has been served upon the adverse party within the time limitations for filing the motion.

Note the "whichever shall be the earlier" — service of a certified copy shortens the window rather than extending it.

And Rule 60(f) adds a restitution remedy for that defendant:

Defendant Constructively Summoned—Restoration of Property. When a judgment is set aside on the motion of a defendant constructively summoned, the court may order the plaintiff in the action to restore to the defendant any money of the defendant paid under the judgment or any property of the defendant obtained by the plaintiff under it and yet remaining in his possession and pay to the defendant the value of any property which may have been taken under an attachment in the action or under the judgment and not restored.

Money already collected can be ordered restored. That is worth asking for expressly.

Rule 60's other grounds, and its own defense requirement

Rule 60(c) also reaches misprisions of the clerk, misrepresentation or fraud by an adverse party, "erroneous proceedings against an infant or person of unsound mind where the condition of such defendant does not appear in the record", "the death of one of the parties before the judgment", and:

For errors in a judgment shown by an infant within twelve (12) months after reaching the age of eighteen (18) years, upon a showing of cause.

Rule 60(d) imposes a defense requirement of its own:

Valid Defense to Be Shown. No judgment against a defendant, unless it was rendered before the action stood for trial, shall be set aside under this rule unless the defendant in his motion asserts a valid defense to the action and, upon hearing, makes a prima facie showing of such defense.

Note the standard here: assert the defense in the motion, and make a prima facie showing at the hearing — a two-stage requirement, and a carve-out for judgments rendered "before the action stood for trial."

Rule 60(e) applies the mirror rule to a plaintiff seeking to set aside a judgment.

Rule 60(b) keeps clerical corrections available "at any time".

Check the three days

Ark. R. Civ. P. 55(b):

Manner of Entering Judgment. The party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the court therefor, but no judgment by default shall be entered against an infant or incompetent person. If the party against whom judgment by default is sought has appeared in the action, he (or if appearing by representative, his representative) shall be served with written notice of the application for judgment at least 3 days prior to the hearing on such application.

Two things to check. Arkansas has no clerk route — "shall apply to the court", so a judge entered it. And if you had appeared, you were owed three days' written notice of the application.

Rule 55(a) confirms the trigger: default judgment is available where a party "has failed to plead or otherwise defend as provided by these rules."

Rule 55(d) subjects a default judgment to "the limitations of Rule 54(c)" — it cannot exceed or differ in kind from what the complaint demanded.

If you have not been defaulted yet

See responding to an Arkansas complaint for the deadline and what the answer must contain.

How Arkansas compares

A short checklist

1. Use Rule 55(c), not Rule 60. Arkansas routes default judgments out of Rule 60 expressly.
2. Do not treat Rule 60's ninety days as your deadline. Rule 55(c) states none.
3. Plead a meritorious defense in the motion. The rule requires it.
4. Test whether the judgment is void first. If it is, no defense need be shown at all.
5. Check the three days' notice if you had appeared in the action.
6. Confirm a judge entered it. Arkansas has no clerk default route.
7. If you were constructively summoned and never appeared, check Rule 60(c)(2) — and note the window ends at the earlier of two years and one year from service of a certified copy.
8. Ask for restitution under Rule 60(f) if money or property has already been taken.
9. Compare the judgment to the complaint — Rule 54(c) limits it.

Where these rules live

• Ark. R. Civ. P. 55 — Default
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief from Judgment, Decree or Order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and what amounts to excusable neglect or a meritorious defense is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.