High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear before a court of law. Federal Rule 37(b)(iii) also states that a balky plaintiff can be found in default and have his case dismissed if the plaintiff repeatedly fails to comply with things like court orders and discovery requests. The failure to take action is the default. The default judgment is the relief requested in the party`s original petition, which is why initial pleadings are often so exaggerated.