12. Default Judgment and Summary Judgment
Obtaining and setting aside default judgment, and resolving claims or issues without trial through summary judgment.
How to study for BSB Civil Litigation
Prepare separately for closed-book recall and open-book application while keeping every step anchored to the exact syllabus version for your sitting.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Default judgment depends on the claim type, valid service, expiry of the response deadline and satisfaction of the procedural conditions.
Exam cue: Audit jurisdiction, service, deadline and the defendant's filed response before requesting default judgment.
Concept 2
An irregular default judgment must be set aside under the mandatory rule; a regular judgment may be set aside on the discretionary grounds, with promptness material.
Exam cue: Classify a set-aside application as mandatory or discretionary before applying merits, reason and promptness.
Concept 3
Summary judgment asks whether a party has no real prospect of succeeding and whether there is no other compelling reason for trial.
Exam cue: For summary judgment, distinguish a realistic prospect supported by evidence from a merely arguable or fanciful case.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Obtaining default judgment where the chosen claim or filed response makes that route unavailable.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Using the discretionary test for a judgment that was wrongly entered and must be set aside.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Treating summary judgment as a mini-trial involving final resolution of contested evidence.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Memory anchors
Default gateway
Valid service, expired response time, eligible claim and no filed step blocking entry.
Mandatory set aside
If default judgment was wrongly entered under the rule, the court must set it aside.
Discretionary set aside
Real prospect of defending or another good reason, with promptness important.
Summary judgment test
No real prospect of success and no other compelling reason for trial.
No mini-trial
The court evaluates realistic prospects without finally trying disputed evidence.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
The defendant files neither an acknowledgement of service nor a defence, and the relevant time has expired. What may the claimant ordinarily consider?
A defendant timely files an acknowledgement of service but then misses the defence deadline. Is default judgment necessarily unavailable?
Answer all questions to submit.
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Move forward only after this module is stable.
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