This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2014-03-07 |
LEONEN, J. |
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| Fifteen days is sufficient time for a defendant to answer with good defenses against the plaintiff's allegations in the complaint. Thus, a defendant who fails to answer within 15 days from service of summons either presents no defenses against the plaintiff's allegations in the complaint or was prevented from filing his or her answer within the required period due to fraud, accident, mistake or excusable negligence.[97] | |||||
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2014-03-07 |
LEONEN, J. |
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| Default, therefore, is not meant to punish the defendant but to enforce the prompt filing of the answer to the complaint. For a defendant without good defenses, default saves him or her "the embarrassment of openly appearing to defend the indefensible."[110] As this court explained in Gochangco v. The Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental, Branch IV:[111] | |||||