Romeo v. Looks

The majority, in this case of court-ordered, substituted service, refuses to accept the defendant’s lack of knowledge of the lawsuit against her as adequate excuse for failing to respond thereto and, accordingly, refuses to open a default judgment to allow the presentation of a valid defense. Because this is contrary to the equitable principles which are applicable to petitions to open default judgments, I dissent.

On April 26, 1980, an automobile owned by Theresa Looks and operated by Sherry Rose allegedly collided with another vehicle in which Joseph Romeo was riding as a passenger. An…