Maize

FACTS

Plaintiff Richard Maize sued defendant Jaime Cuevas to collect a $50,000 loan. Defendant was personally served with the lawsuit on October 15, 2012. He admits receiving the summons and complaint; however, he did not take the matter seriously because plaintiff was a friend and business associate, and “I believed that Maize and I would either resolve the dispute outside of court or at least litigate as gentlemen.” Defendant’s belief proved to be misplaced. On November 20, 2012, six days after the deadline for responding to the complaint, plaintiff had a default entered. On December 7, 2012, defendant wrote to plaintiff’s attorney, expressed disappointment about the lack of courtesy, and asked that the default be set aside so that he could answer the complaint. Plaintiff refused. Defendant moved to set aside the default on the grounds of mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect. He submitted a declaration blaming his own “good faith [belief] that Maize would not seek to deny me the ability to respond to his complaint,” adding, “[i]n retrospect, I was naïve to believe that Maize would not try to take advantage of me in this litigation.” Defendant was surprised that…