Garcia v. Lozada

Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a building owned by defendants. Nearly one year after the case was ordered dismissed by agreement of the parties, the circuit court granted plaintiff’s motion to vacate the dismissal, set the cause for trial and entered an ex parte judgment against the defendants. The circuit court denied defendants’ petition for relief from the vacatur and the ex parte judgment, and defendants have brought this appeal.

We reverse. The pertinent facts follow.

On October 4, 1972, plaintiff filed suit alleging her injury in a fall…