Abdella v. Catlin

There is a ruralistic anecdote of ancient enough vintage that has a tourist asking a small-town storekeeper how to get to another town, not too far away. After discussing various ways to go, and finding something wrong with each of them, the small-town storekeeper concluded, “Mister, if I was going to go to so-and-so, I wouldn’t start from here.” In the case before us, the destination of the trip can be located, but the puzzling question is, Where do we start ?

One starting point could be appellant’s claim of entitlement to a default judgment against defendants Karpinski and Catlin. As to…