Short answer. Yes — this is the classic case for annulment of judgment. Under Rule 47, a judgment may be annulled on only two grounds: extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction. A court that never acquired jurisdiction over you because you were never validly summoned renders a judgment open to annulment even after finality.
What the law says
The annulment may be based only on the grounds of extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction.
Rule 47, Section 2 — Grounds for annulment. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Extrinsic fraud shall not be a valid ground if it was availed of, or could have been availed of, in a motion for new trial or petition for relief.
Rule 47, Section 2 — Grounds for annulment. Read the full provision →
Only two grounds exist
Annulment of judgment is an extraordinary remedy, and the Rules keep its door narrow: the annulment may be based only on the grounds of extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction. It is not a second appeal, and it is not a way to reargue the merits — that the decision was wrong, unfair or badly reasoned is not a ground. What it exists for is the judgment that should never have come into being at all, and a judgment rendered against a person the court never acquired authority over is the leading example.
No summons, no jurisdiction over you
A court acquires jurisdiction over a defendant through valid service of summons or through the defendant's voluntary appearance in the case. If you were never served and never appeared, the court had no power to bind you, however regular the rest of the proceedings looked. That defect is jurisdictional — it does not heal because the judgment became final, because time passed, or because the winning party has started to execute. This is why the person who learns of a decision only after finality is precisely who Rule 47 contemplates.
The limitation applies to fraud, not to jurisdiction
The rule adds a filter: extrinsic fraud shall not be a valid ground if it was availed of, or could have been availed of, in a motion for new trial or petition for relief. In other words, a party who had earlier remedies open and let them lapse cannot recycle the same fraud as a ground for annulment. Note what the sentence covers — extrinsic fraud only. Lack of jurisdiction stands apart from that limitation, which matters for someone who, never having been summoned, had no real opportunity to use those earlier remedies in the first place.
The document that settles it
Before anything else, obtain the complete case records from the court that decided the case. The sheriff's return on the summons is the document that shows whether service was made, on whom, where and how — and whether what was done amounts to valid service is exactly what a petition will turn on. Check, too, that nothing in the record counts as a voluntary appearance: a pleading filed by someone claiming to act for you can change the analysis. Bring the records to counsel promptly; delay only ever hurts this remedy.