Carol A. Beeson and Dora M. Shepherd v. Levi Smith

DUMBAULD, Senior District Judge.

Appellants Carol A. Beeson and Dora M. Shepherd, residents of Mississippi and Tennessee, respectively 1 , appeal the District Court’s denial of their motion to vacate a default. They were passengers involved in a collision in Illinois with a vehicle driven by appellee Smith. While recognizing that in principle such a motion is discretionary, we reverse and find “abuse of discretion” in accordance with the practice of reviewing courts to avoid the drastic consequence to clients of denial of their day in court, when a more appropriate remedy would have been…