Wittich v. O'Connell
Annotate this CasePlaintiff law firm filed a complaint alleging that Defendants and Plaintiff had previously entered into a contract for legal services and that Defendants breached this contract by failing to fully pay for the legal services performed by Plaintiff. Defendants failed to file an answer or otherwise appear within the required time period, and the district court subsequently entered an order of default judgment against Defendants. Defendants filed a motion to vacate the entry of default some nine months later. The district court denied the motion as untimely. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not slightly abuse its discretion in denying Defendants' motion to vacate its entry of default judgment; (2) the district court did not err by awarding attorney fees and costs to Plaintiff; and (3) consideration of Defendants' appeal of the court's denial of Defendants' motions seeking to alter or set aside the court's earlier denial of Defendants' motion to vacate the entry of default judgment was barred.
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