Opinion ID: 2973935
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: “Draconian” Objection

Text: Frontier’s third and final objection to the magistrate’s report of October 28, 2003 was that it was “draconian for a court to impose a default judgment against a party for the acts or omissions of a non-party insurer, enforceable only out of insurance proceeds, and then deny the non-party insurer the opportunity to seek relief from that default.” The district court denied the objection because Frontier failed to cite any authority for the proposition and the court found it to be unpersuasive. Even so, as discussed supra in section II, the magistrate and the district court fully heard Frontier’s Rule 60(b) motion and found it to be without merit. Therefore, Frontier was granted a limited appearance in effect and was, therefore, not denied the opportunity to seek relief. For this reason, Frontier’s appeal must fail. What ultimately dooms Frontier’s appeal based on its excuse for not attending the settlement conference and the show cause hearing is that the only proof it has that its conduct was excusable is Mehta’s word. That proof goes against the word of the magistrate, the word of the attorney for Eagle Village and Moore, and documentation indicating that Mehta received numerous warnings about the importance of complying with the court’s requests and the potential consequences. That is not enough to overcome the abuse of discretion standard of review. Therefore, this Court denies the Rule 60(b) appeal entirely.