Setting Aside Default Judgment

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Ice Plant v. Grace located here on Tuesday.  The Plaintiff in the case was involved in an 18 wheeler accident.  The Plaintiff sued the driver and his employer.  Are both defendants were served, neither ever responded and a judgment was entered for $350,000.00. The Defendants later moved to set aside the judgments under Rule 60.  The driver was successful because it was shown that he was not personally served and the trial court had no choice but to set aside the judgment.  The employer was not successful and appealed.  The Court of Appeals affirmed the refusal to set aside the judgment.  I think this was largely as the original damages hearing was transcribed so there was a basis to show the damages were not reasonable.  As such, there was no abuse of discretion.  That is a good practice pointer on the default judgments.  If a record is made, it is a lot harder for the defendant to set it aside.