American Association of Naturopathic Psysicians v. Hayhurst

We must decide, among other issues of civil procedure,
whether a party who raises only one defense in a motion to
vacate default judgment thereby waives all other defenses.

I.

This appeal is the latest round of antipathy in an ongoing
feud between Nevada resident Donald Hayhurst and the
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians
("Association"). The Association is a non-profit organization
that acts as an advocate for naturopathic physicians nationwide.
Hayhurst has a long history of creating and controlling
groups with names or acronyms curiously similar to the Association.
At the center of this case is an entity Hayhurst operated
called the American Academy of Naturopathic
Physicians. This Academy's acronym, like the Association's,
is AANP, and Hayhurst referred to it as such in mailings and
other promotional literature. More importantly, Hayhurst
acquired the domain name . Using that
domain name, Hayhurst subsequently constructed a web site
that referred repeatedly to the Academy as the "AANP."

On July 29, 1998, the Association sued Hayhurst in the
United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
for unfair competition, trademark infringement, service
mark infringement, and trade name infringement. The Association
dispatched a process server to 8170 Creek Water Lane
in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hayhurst did not respond to the summons
and complaint nor to the Association's motion for a default judgment, and on January 7, 1999, the district court
entered a default judgment against him accordingly. On January
26, 1999, Hayhurst filed a motion under Fed. R. Civ. P.
60 to have the default judgment vacated and set aside. The district court referred the matter to a magistrate judge who
held an evidentiary hearing to determine the facts underlying
the service of process. After weighing the credibility of the
parties, the magistrate judge found unambiguously for the
Association, recommending that Hayhurst's motion to vacate
and to set aside the default judgment be denied and that his
motion to dismiss also be denied. Chief Judge Coughenour
agreed and adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation in
toto. Hayhurst filed this timely appeal.

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Click the case caption above for the full text of the
Court's opinion.

Affirmed.

Unknown

Unknown

Reported by Kent Morlan