Rutan & Tucker v. Grabowski
Laurence L. Grabowski (Grabowski) owes the law firm Rutan & Tucker (Rutan) legal fees for litigation involving a family trust dispute. After Grabowski failed to make payments or honor his promissory note, Rutan filed a lawsuit against Grabowski and obtained a default judgment. Approximately five years later, Rutan learned Grabowski was going to receive a large monetary settlement arising out of litigation involving a family business dispute (hereafter Orange County Litigation). Rutan filed a notice of lien in the pending action. After the court ordered the parties to prepare a final judgment, Rutan filed a motion for order regarding satisfaction of the lien. The court granted the motion. A few months later, Grabowski filed a motion to set aside the default and default judgment claiming it was void because he was not properly served with the summons and complaint. The court denied Grabowski’s motion and deemed the lien, based on the default judgment, to be valid. This appeal challenges the order denying Grabowski’s motion to set aside the default and default judgment as void. Finding no error, we affirm the order.[1]
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