Justices Consider Timeline for Challenging Void Judgments

The US Supreme Court will consider whether there’s a time limit for challenging a default judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction.

On Friday, the justices took up a long-running bankruptcy dispute involving a Brooklyn auto parts store.

In 2021, Coney Island Auto Parts sought to undo a 2015 default judgment entered against it. The bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment because the service of process was defective, Coney Island said.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit declined to vacate the judgment, saying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(c) requires a motion to set aside a judgment to be filed within a “reasonable time.”

The Sixth Circuit is the only federal appellate court to apply a timeline, Coney Island told the justices.

The case is Coney Island Auto Parts Unlimited, Inc. v. Burton, U.S., No. 24-808.