Appeal default judgement?

[draktheas]

I am in Texas.

I was served by the plaintiff in a case against me for default judgement of an amount owed. The suit was filed in the adjacent county, not the county that I live in. The suit was also filed 1 month past the 4 year statute of limitations for such a suit. I responded by filing a response with the court within 20 days of being served as required by law. As advised by an attorney, I responded to each claim and also provided grounds for affirmative defense: 1) Improper venue, 2) Statute of Limitations, and 3) Latches.

I recently received a ruling from the judge after a year of no response by the plaintiff. The ruling granted the default judgement to the plantiff on the grounds that I had not appeared within the 20 days required by law. I have copies of the response filed with the court clearly stamped by the clerk within the 20 days.

Do I have grounds for an appeal?

 

[Rexlan]

Absolutely

 

[draktheas]

On second reading of the judgement. The last page has the judge's signature and date. Right next to that is the word "Denied" circled. Does that mean the judge denied the default judgement? If so, that seems like an awfully unclear way to deny the judgement.

Should I just call the clerk and ask what the ruling was?

 

[Rexlan]

That means the motion was denied ... not granted.

Forget about it. The judge read your reply and denied their motion -- you won!