In a Decision – Friedman v. Friedman (an "Unreported Decision") >> the Court Held:
The Appellate Division dismissed the appeal holding appellant must file an application in the trial court, pursuant to Rule 4:50-1 or on other grounds as he may deem appropriate, in order to set aside the divorce decree.
Following several years of litigation in the parties’ divorce proceedings, the trial court entered a default judgment of divorce which established property distribution, domestic support obligations, and child custody. At the default hearing, to which Husband failed to attend, the trial judge barred defense counsel from cross-examining Wife because of Husband’s disregard for his obligation in the litigation over a period of years. The Appellate Division noted it was well established that appeals must be dismissed when taken against a judgment by default. Haber v. Haber, 253 N.J. Super. 413, 416 (App. Div. 1992). As held in Haber, the reason underlying such rule was that the very theory and constitution of the appellate court was only the correction of errors which a court below may have committed, and a court below cannot be said to have committed an error when its judgment was never called into exercise, but was abandoned by acquiescence or default of the party who raised it. Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal as proceduraly barred.