Wisconsin Business and Commercial Litigation

In Miller v. Hanover Ins. Co., the Wisconsin Supreme Court undertook a careful analysis of the law surrounding the re-opening of default judgments, particularly the five interest of justice factors under Wis. Stat. s. 806.07(1)(h).  Notably, the court determined that no finding of excusable neglect is required under (1)(h) to re-open a default judgment:

We conclude that M.L.B., and subsequent cases, unambiguously establish that a circuit court is to consider the five interest of justice factors in determining whether extraordinary circumstances are present under Wis. Stat. § 806.07(1)(h) such that relief from a judgment, including a default judgment, is appropriate. M.L.B., 122 Wis. 2d at 552­53; see Connor, 243 Wis. 2d 279, ¶41 (applying the five interest of justice factors to determine whether the circuit court properly exercised its discretion in denying relief from default judgment under para. (1)(h)); Johns v. Cnty. of Oneida, 201 Wis. 2d 600, 607­08, 549 N.W.2d 269 (Ct. App. 1996) (same). A finding of excusable neglect is not required under the extraordinary circumstances test to obtain relief from a default judgment under para. (1)(h). See generally M.L.B., 122 Wis. 2d 536.

The court went on to apply each of the five factors to the facts in the case, which will, of course, be of use to those of us who find ourselves behind a default judgment 8 ball.  There is a spirited concurrence from Justice Bradley, who reaches the same result for drastically different reasons, concentrating on the “extraordinary circumstances” phrase, arguing that the majority’s approach is too formulaic.

Upside down house courtesy Sideshow Bruce’s flickr gallery via this license.