Setting aside a Maine default judgment: debt collectors must show strict compliance first

If you were defaulted in Maine on a credit card, student loan, debt buyer or foreclosure claim, start with Rule 55 rather than with your reasons for missing the deadline.

Maine treats those four categories differently from every other case. The clerk cannot touch them, and no default judgment may be entered in them "except after review by the court and determination that the plaintiff has strictly complied" with the law that governs them.

Strict compliance is a demanding standard, and the rule imposes it before judgment — not as something you have to raise afterwards.

What the clerk may not do

Me. R. Civ. P. 55(a)(1):

By the Clerk. When a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend as provided by these rules and that fact is made to appear by affidavit or otherwise, the clerk shall enter the party's default, except that the clerk may not enter a default in a:

(A) foreclosure action filed pursuant to Title 14, Chapter 713 of the Maine Revised Statutes; (B) collection action filed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 109-A of the Maine Revised Statutes and brought by a "debt buyer" as therein defined; or (C) debt collection action based on credit card or student loan debt filed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 109-A of the Maine Revised Statutes and brought by a "debt collector" as therein defined. Nor may the clerk enter a default if otherwise prohibited from doing so by statute or these rules.

The same three carve-outs are repeated for judgment in Rule 55(b)(1), which otherwise allows the clerk to enter a sum-certain judgment "upon affidavit of the amount due and affidavit that the defendant is not a minor or incompetent person":

The clerk may not enter a default judgment in a foreclosure action filed pursuant to Title 14, Chapter 713 of the Maine Revised Statutes; a collection action filed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 109-A of the Maine Revised Statutes and brought by a "debt buyer" as therein defined; or a debt collection action based on credit card or student loan debt filed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 109-A of the Maine Revised Statutes and brought by a "debt collector" as therein defined.

Rule 55(a)(2) confirms the court retains the power: "The court may enter a default in any case type, including those listed in subdivision (1)(A) through (C) above, unless prohibited from doing so by statute or these rules."

So the question in a consumer case is not only whether a default judgment was entered, but who entered it. A clerk-entered judgment in any of those three categories did not comply with the rule.

The strict-compliance review

Rule 55(b)(4):

Collection Actions. No default judgment may be entered in a collection action filed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 109-A of the Maine Revised Statutes and brought by a "debt buyer" as therein defined or based on alleged student loan or credit card debt and brought by a "debt collector," as that term is defined in Title 32, Chapter 109-A, except after review by the court and determination that the plaintiff has strictly complied with all applicable provisions of law, including those specifically expressed in Title 32.

Two requirements, both preconditions to judgment: review by the court, and a determination of strict compliance with all applicable provisions of law.

If the docket shows a judgment entered without any such review or determination, that is a defect in the judgment itself.

Rule 55(b)(3) imposes a parallel and even more specific review in foreclosure:

Foreclosure Actions. No default judgment shall be entered in a foreclosure action filed pursuant to Title 14, Chapter 713 of the Maine Revised Statutes except after review by the court and determination that (i) the plaintiff has strictly complied with the service and notice requirements of 14 M.R.S. § 6111 and these rules, and (ii) the plaintiff has certified proof of its ownership of the mortgage note and produced evidence of the mortgage note, the mortgage, and all assignments and endorsements of the mortgage note and the mortgage.

The chain-of-assignment requirement is the one most often incomplete, and the rule puts the burden on the plaintiff before judgment.

Notice runs on motion practice

Rule 55(b)(2) handles everything else, and Maine's notice provision is unusual:

In all other cases the party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the court therefor; but no judgment by default shall be entered against a minor or incompetent person unless represented in the action by a guardian, guardian ad litem, conservator, or other such representative who has appeared therein. If the party against whom judgment by default is sought has appeared in the action, the party (or, if appearing by representative, the party's representative) shall be served with written notice of the application for judgment in the same manner and subject to the same response requirements as for motions pursuant to Rule 7; provided that, if the reason for default is a party's failure to appear at trial, such notice need be served only if ordered by the court.

Rather than fixing a number of days, Maine ties the notice to Rule 7 motion practice — the same manner of service and the same response requirements as any motion. That means you had a response period, and it was the ordinary motion period.

Note the proviso: where the default is for failure to appear at trial, notice is required only if the court orders it.

Setting it aside

Rule 55(c):

Setting Aside Default. For good cause shown the court may set aside an entry of default and, if a judgment by default has been entered, may likewise set it aside in accordance with Rule 60(b).

Me. R. Civ. P. 60(b) carries the familiar six grounds, and its timing sentence reads:

The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.

Where a Rule 55(b)(3) or (b)(4) review never happened, the argument is not that your neglect was excusable — it is that the judgment should not have been entered at all.

If you have not been defaulted yet

See responding to a Maine complaint for the deadline and what the answer must contain. For the limitations defense in a debt case generally, see the limitations defense.

How Maine compares

A short checklist

1. Identify the case type first. Foreclosure, debt buyer, or credit card and student loan collection are treated differently from everything else.
2. Check who entered it. In those three categories the clerk had no power to enter a default or a judgment.
3. Look for the court's review and determination of strict compliance. It was a precondition to judgment.
4. In a foreclosure, check the chain — certified proof of ownership, and evidence of every assignment and endorsement.
5. Check the notice if you had appeared. It ran on Rule 7 motion practice, with a response period.
6. Establish whether a judgment exists or only an entry of default. Good cause has no deadline.
7. Count one year from entry for the first three Rule 60(b) grounds.
8. Where a required review never happened, argue the judgment should not have entered — that is stronger than excusable neglect.

Where these rules live

• Me. R. Civ. P. 55 — Default
• Me. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief from Judgment or Order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and what amounts to good cause or strict compliance is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.