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Nuyen v. Luna10/13/2005
Argued June 9, 2005
Before SCHWELB and FARRELL, Associate Judges, and BURGESS, Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
David Nuyen ("Nuyen") appeals from an order denying his motion to vacate a default judgment. He also contends that the trial court erred in entering the judgment itself. We reject his attack on the judgment, but find merit in his contention that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion to vacate without stating its reasons. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.
I. Procedural History
Proceeding pro se, Nuyen filed a complaint in the Landlord-Tenant Branch of the Civil Division alleging that his tenant, Raysa Luna ("Luna"), had failed to pay rent for three months. He sought possession and a money judgment for the unpaid rent. Luna filed a verified answer, counterclaim, and jury demand, alleging that Nuyen had breached the implied warranty of habitability by failing to correct housing code violations. She sought an abatement of rent, a set-off or reimbursement for repairs, an injunction requiring Nuyen to repair the alleged violations, and such "further relief as the court deems just and proper." The landlord-tenant action was thereafter certified to the Civil Actions Branch pursuant to Super. Ct. Landlord and Tenant Rule 6.
Luna also commenced a separate civil action in the Civil Actions Branch seeking recovery for personal injuries that she and her daughters allegedly had suffered due to a collapsed ceiling and other conditions in the apartment. She sought compensatory and punitive damages, and an injunction requiring Nuyen to repair the allegedly unsafe conditions. Nuyen filed an answer denying the allegations in the complaint.
The judge presiding over the civil action consolidated it with the landlord-tenant action. Attorneys entered their appearance for Nuyen in the civil action. The court entered a scheduling order on February 22, 2003, which set deadlines for discovery, informed the parties that alternative dispute resolution would occur between August 22, 2002 and September 22, 2002, and stated that a pretrial conference would occur approximately sixty days thereafter.
Some three weeks after entry of the scheduling order, Nuyen was sentenced to two years imprisonment upon his plea of guilty to federal charges relating to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's investigation into Nuyen's compliance with the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of l992, 42 U.S.C. ยง 4852d (2005).
When Nuyen failed to respond to Luna's interrogatories and requests for production, Luna filed a motion to compel. Nuyen's counsel responded in part that he had been unable to locate Nuyen's prison address in order to forward to him the discovery requests. The court granted the motion to compel and awarded attorney fees. Nuyen failed to provide discovery by the deadline set in the court's order, whereupon the court issued a second order on September 23, 2002, and warned Nuyen that it would impose sanctions if he did not respond.
Meanwhile, on September 12, 2002, the court issued notices scheduling the pretrial conference for November 13, 2002. It mailed the notices to Luna's lawyer, to Nuyen's lawyers in the civil action, and to Nuyen at his home address. It did not mail notice to Nuyen's prison address, as he had not notified the court of that address.
On November 10, 2002, Nuyen executed a settlement agreement, which was later signed by his counsel. Luna and her counsel executed the agreement on November 14. The terms of the agreement required Nuyen to pay Luna $l6,000 in return for her releasing Nuyen from all claims, dema
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