Sued under wrong statute?

[MikeB]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Penn.
Hello. My friend was involved in a complex divorce. He has since sued the judge, and other agents of evil, in federal court per se for violating his civil rights under color of law. They did not respond and I think he was issued a default judgment. An attorney for the defendants then appeared and asked to have the case vacated because, among other reasons, he cited the wrong statute. Apparently he listed the criminal statute instead of the civil one. (42:1983 Civil Rights Act). This looked bad, but when he looked up the rules they specifically stated that the defendants would have had to have requested the case to be vacated earlier, and that they could not do so now after the default.
Is this true? If so, does that mean he has won the case? Does the judge have discretion to apply a correct statute to a lawsuit if the wrong one was cited in the filing? Can a case proceed that far if it is obviously doomed because the wrong statute (or part of a statute) was cited? (Can the same statute have a criminal and civil part?)
As you'll have noticed, I'm even hazy about the issues involved, so your advice is appreciated.

[Zigner]

Your friend should be asking questions. You admit that you are "hazy" on what actually happened. Anything you'd get from us would be down right cloudy!

[MikeB]

That's OK. I'm so murky that any insight is appreciated.
You're probably right, and I will recommend this to him, but I thought that it might be nice to recommend it with a nugget or two of information to spur him on to the site. But, if I haven't given enough specifics then sorry to bother you and I'll tell him to come.