HENRY TIEN
v.
SERGIO L. MENDEZ, ETC., ET AL.

Fla. 3d DCA | 2025-11-26
No. 2025-1998
2025 FL 11234 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2025) Positive Treatment
Cited by 1 case

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Henry Tien appealed an order granting a motion for entry of judicial default, but the Florida Third District Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that an order entering judicial default is neither a final appealable order nor a nonfinal appealable order under Florida law.


Holding

An order entering a judicial default is neither a final appealable order nor a nonfinal appealable order under Florida law, and therefore does not confer appellate jurisdiction.


Headnotes

[1] An order entering a judicial default is neither a final appealable order nor a nonfinal appealable order under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3) and therefo…

Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“[A]n order entering a judicial default is not a final appealable order, as it does not put an end to judicial labor in the case, nor is such an order included in the schedule of appealable[] non[]final orders set forth in rule 9.130(a)(3).”

Establishes the legal standard that a default order is not appealable because it neither terminates the case nor is enumerated in the rules of appellate procedure.

Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Henry Tien failed to respond to a complaint. The trial court granted a motion for entry of judicial default against Tien. Sergio L. Mendez, as Curator…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed November 26, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

No. 3D25-1998 Lower Tribunal No. 25-1432-CP-02

Henry Tien, Appellant,

vs.

Sergio L. Mendez, etc., et al., Appellees.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Nushin G. Sayfie, Judge.

Henry Tien, in proper person.

Law Offices Mendez & Mendez, P.A., Sergio L. Mendez, Daniel J. Mendez, and Daniela C. Pachon, for appellees.

Before FERNANDEZ, MILLER, and GOODEN, JJ.

MILLER, J.

Appellant, Henry Tien, appeals from an order granting a motion for entry of a judicial default rendered by the trial court following his purported failure to respond to the complaint. Appellee, Sergio L. Mendez, as Curator of the Estate of Ming C. Tien, has moved to dismiss the appeal, contending we lack jurisdiction. We conclude that the order under review is neither a final appealable order nor a nonfinal appealable order. See Denis v. Seasons Gardens Senior Residence, LLC, 402 So. 3d 1144, 1146 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025) (“[A]n order entering a judicial default is not a final appealable order, as it does not put an end to judicial labor in the case, nor is such an order included in the schedule of appealable[] non[]final orders set forth in rule 9.130(a)(3).”); Valledor Co., Inc. v. Decky, 338 So. 3d 956, 958 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022) (noting that judicial default is neither a final order nor an appealable nonfinal order under rule 9.130(a)(3)); Dieuvil v. Falcon Trace Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., 326 So. 3d 709, 710 (Fla. 4th DCA 2021) (holding that order granting a motion for entry of default is a nonfinal nonappealable order). We therefore lack jurisdiction and dismiss the appeal.

Appeal dismissed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …entering a judicial default is not a final appealable order, as it does not put an end to judicial labor in the case, nor is such an order included in the schedule of appealable, non-final orders set forth in rule 9.130(a)(3). Valledor Co. v. Decky, 338 So. 3d 956, 958 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022) (explaining that judicial default is neither final order nor appealable non-final order under rule 9.130(a)(3)). This latter proposition holds true even when the judicial default constitutes a default judgment as to liabilit…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw