Chapter 514: Notice, Default, and Abatement

If a defendant on whom process has been duly served neglects to appear at the court to which the same is returned his default shall be recorded, and judgment shall be rendered against him for such damages as upon inquiry the plaintiff appears to have sustained.

If the defendant on whom process has been served is a town, a default shall not be recorded and a judgment shall not be rendered against the town, unless the clerk of court has given written notice to the town of the impending default judgment at least 10 days before the default judgment is rendered.

The defendant may be permitted to enter an appearance after a default, at the discretion of the court or justice, upon the payment of reasonable costs.

If no personal service has been made on a defendant in an action which may be entered without such service the court, on suggestion thereof, may order the action to be continued and notice of the pendency thereof to be given by publication, by mail in a registered letter, by personal service or otherwise, as they think proper; and, upon satisfactory evidence that the order has been complied with, the notice shall be sufficient.

In actions before a municipal court, commenced by attachment, if no personal service is made upon the defendant by reason that he resides out of the state, or that his residence is unknown to the officer serving the writ, the action may be continued not less than sixty days, and the justice shall order notice of the pendency of the action to be given, by posting a copy of such order in two or more public places in the town where the defendant was last known to be an inhabitant in this state, forty days at least before the day to which the action is continued.

If it appears to the municipal court that personal service can be made upon the defendant in this state the justice may continue such action for at least twenty-eight days, and order personal service of such notice on the defendant fourteen days at least before the date to which such action is continued.

If the defendant shall not appear at the time and place to which the action is continued judgment shall be rendered on satisfactory evidence that notice has been posted or given as ordered aforesaid, and execution shall issue thereon, upon the plaintiff's filing with the justice a bond with sufficient sureties to the defendant to respond to the judgment, which the defendant may recover, upon a review of the action; but if personal service has been made upon the defendant no bond is required.

Such review may be brought at any time within two years after the rendition of the judgment, and the plaintiff in such review may have the benefit of all pleas and advantages which he might have had in the original action.

No writ, declaration, return, process, judgment or other proceeding in the courts or course of justice shall be abated, quashed or reversed for any error or mistake, where the person or case may be rightly understood by the court, nor through defect or want of form or addition only; and courts and justices may, on motion, order amendment in any such case.

Amendments in matters of substance may be permitted in any action, in any stage of the proceedings, upon such terms as the court shall deem just and reasonable, when it shall appear to the court that it is necessary for the prevention of injustice; but the rights of third persons shall not be affected thereby.

No action shall be abated by the plea that there are other plaintiffs or defendants who ought to be joined therein, but such persons may be made parties to the action upon such terms as the court shall order, and may be summoned by scire facias, or notified by publication, as the court may order; and the action shall thereafter proceed as if their names were inserted in the original writ.

In real actions the writ shall not abate because all the tenants are not named in it, but those on whom it is served shall answer for such part of the premises demanded as they claim, and may disclaim for the residue.

When one of two or more plaintiffs or defendants dies, and the right of action survives, the action may be prosecuted by or against the surviving parties, such death being suggested on the record.

In all civil proceedings, when two or more are joined as plaintiffs or defendants, the writ or other process may be amended before the evidence is closed or the case is submitted, by striking out the name of any plaintiff or of any defendant on paying his costs to that time.

The court shall order notice to be given, in such manner as due process of law requires, of any petition, complaint, libel, application, or motion in writing filed therein, and no judgment, decree, or ruling shall be rendered thereon absent compliance with such order.

Any application, motion, complaint, libel, or petition, for any cause of action, may be filed in the clerk's office, in vacation, and a summons issued thereon under the rules of the court.