General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Pumphrey

This is an appeal from the trial court’s denial of the third party defendant’s motion to open judgment. The basic issue to be decided is whether the failure to issue a summons to a party precluded the court from obtaining personal jurisdiction over that party, thereby voiding a judgment by default for failure to appear rendered more than four months prior to the motion to open the judgment.

The plaintiff, General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), brought an action against the defendants, Linda and Stephen Pumphrey, for failure to make payments pursuant to a retail installment contract for…