Settlement Negotiations Don’t Avoid Default

A default judgment stood when the defendant “state[d] he was in discussions with plaintiff’s counsel regarding a resolution without court intervention.” The Fifth Court noted: “Settlement negotiations may be a valid excuse for failing to answer where there is some basis for the defendant to believe default would not be taken while negotiations were in progress.” But “appellants produced no evidence of any statement by appellee that would give them reason to believe that appellee would not take a default judgment”; thus, the first Craddock factor was not satisfied. Chloe’s Concepts, LLC v. Clear Rainbow, Inc., No. 05-20-00484-CV (Dec. 20, 2021) (mem. op.).