Federal Rules Bar Default for Failure to Answer

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 forbids a federal district court to automatically grant a default judgment when an opposing party fails to respond to a motion for summary judgment even if a local district court rule allows the practice, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Sept. 24. (Heinemann v. Satterberg, 2013 BL 255397, 9th Cir., No. 12-35404)

According to the court, the trial judge relied on Western District of Washington Rule 7(b)(2), which allows judges to deem a nonmovant’s failure to respond as a total abandonment of its opposition to summary judgment.

This ...