Bank of Montreal v. Olafsson
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
648 F.2d 1078 (1981)
The Bank of Montreal (plaintiff), a Canadian corporation, obtained a default judgment against Thorhallur Olafsson (defendant), an Icelandic citizen, in federal district court after Olafsson failed to respond, and relied on that judgment to seize and sell Olafsson's Michigan property to satisfy the debt. Olafsson later moved to set aside the judgment, arguing the court lacked diversity jurisdiction because he was not a U.S. citizen; the district court agreed, set aside the default judgment, and dismissed the case, and the Bank appealed.
Whether a court may set aside its own default judgment under Rule 60(b) after later determining that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction when the judgment was entered.