Town brought action to foreclose municipal tax liens on real property.
Following entry of default, the Superior Court granted town’s motions for judgment of strict foreclosure and rendered judgments of foreclosure by sale, and debtor moved to open the default judgments.
The Superior Court denied debtor’s motions and rendered judgments of foreclosure by sale. Debtor appealed.
The Appellate Court held that debtor failed to establish reasonable cause to open default judgments.
Debtor failed to establish reasonable cause to open default judgments in municipal tax lien foreclosure action years after entry of judgments and years after fire that allegedly destroyed his relevant business records, where trial court extended foreclosure sale date, debtor did not provide sufficient reason for not filing appearance, and debtor had approximately five months after service of process before fire occurred to file appearance.