TRACKMAN

The trial court granted defendant Mike Kenney’s motion to vacate a default judgment entered in favor of plaintiff Stephen O. Trackman, finding that the evidence showed no actual service on Kenney. Trackman appealed, and argues the trial court mistakenly relied on evidence instead of determining whether the proof of service is void on its face.

Kenney does not defend the trial court’s reasoning. As we shall explain, because Kenney’s motion was filed more than two years after entry of judgment, the trial court’s review was limited to the face of the record, and therefore the trial court erred by considering the evidence attached to Kenney’s motion.

Kenney instead argues that the proof of service is void on its face, because the name of the person given the summons was stated as “John Doe, co-resident.” Although this theory was not raised in the trial court, it presents a purely legal question, and we elect to reach it. We reject Kenney’s contention.

Persons given legal papers often refuse to give their true legal names, and it is an established practice for process servers to identify such persons as “John Doe” or some similar name. Although the use of a fictitious name…