So here you are a thriving entrepreneur named Crafty who is doing well in her business. You have clients and you have items to sell. You have recently bought a home for $602,000 in Riverside county and you drive a BMW. Thirsty, a janitor, sees what you have and how happy you are, and wants a "piece" of the action. Thirsty drives to Crafty's house, parks around the corner to look at the layout of the development, and slips and falls in-front of Crafty's house. He breaks his ankle and suffers real pain and suffering in the accident. Crafty has an accident insurance policy on the house and Thirsty wants to sue to gain recovery against Crafty.

Thirsty sues for pain and suffering in state court against Crafty. He sends Crafty a summons and a complaint detailing why its Crafty's fault why he slipped and fell in front of his house. Crafty countersues Thirsty for misuse of legal process in that Crafty has done this routine before, slipping and falling in front of the homes of people who are doing well to gain some kind of recovery. Crafty responds to Thirsty's complaint within 35 days. Thirsty then makes a motion for default judgement against Crafty for not responding to the complaint in time for it to be an adequate response. Crafty then motions the court to vacate the default judgement against him because of illness that prevented him from attaining counsel and filing the response to the complaint in time. The judge denies the motion and allows the default judgement to stand against Crafty because an extension of time would be unfair to Thirsty's due process rights. Crafty then appeals the trial court's decision.

1. Does the Appeals court have to hear the case on whether the trial court got it right on granting a default judgement against Crafty?

2. What does the appeals court have the power to do in this situation?

3. What Can Crafty do to cure the default against him? Does that mean that he just uses the case?

4. Assuming that Thirsty has done this before and sued for slip and fall complaints to others in the past, can Crafty use this information to strengthen his case to overturn the default judgement against him?