Pulte Homes Corp. v. Williams Mechanical, Inc.

—Pulte Homes Corporation (Pulte) filed this action against Williams Mechanical, Inc. (Williams), for defective performance of a plumbing subcontract. Even before the action was filed, however, Williams was defunct; first, it was suspended by the Secretary of State, and thereafter, it dissolved voluntarily.

Pulte served Williams by effecting service on an attorney whom Williams had designated as its agent for service of process. The attorney, however, did not notify Williams of the action; he also did not identify or notify Williams’s liability insurer. Williams, of course, failed to respond to the complaint, and Pulte obtained a default judgment.

Pulte then notified Williams’s liability insurer of the default judgment. About four and a half months later, the insurer retained counsel to represent Williams, and Williams’s counsel filed a motion to set aside the default judgment. The trial court granted the motion.

Pulte appeals, contending:

(1) Williams lacks the capacity to defend this action because it has been suspended.

(2) Williams failed to establish that it was entitled to relief from the default and default judgment.

We will hold that the trial court abused…