Court Opinion

ID: 9847643
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:03:57.473012+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:25.042805
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
¶ 75. {concurring¡dissenting). Although I agree with the rest of the Majority's cogent opinion, I respectfully dissent from its affirmance of the circuit court's denial of the motion for default judgment filed against National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA., by the Casper family.
*125¶ 76. Both the circuit court and the Majority seem to see this as a lost-in-transit situation where through no fault of National Union it could not respond timely to the complaint. This is not so; what the circuit court characterized as a "carefully structured process to assure timely answers," Majority op. ¶ 16, was simply and without excuse not followed.
¶ 77. National Union's "carefully structured process" required Charles Lanphear to tell Lynn Weisinger that he had received the complaint — the cover document was headed "THE ATTACHED DOCUMENTS REQUIRE YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION (bolding and uppercasing in original) and not only directed Lanphear to "acknowledge receipt of these documents" but also, and critically, emphasized a second time his need to respond: "Your response to this inquiry is necessary in order to track this Litigation." (Bolding in original.)
¶ 78. According to the Record, Weisinger sent the complaint to Lanphear, with the direction that he acknowledge its receipt, on May 16, 2006. This was approximately one month before the answer was due. Thus, if Weisinger had acted as a "reasonably prudent person," see Sentry Ins. v. Royal Ins. Co. of America, 196 Wis. 2d 907, 915, 539 N.W.2d 911, 914 (Ct. App. 1995), she would have called Lanphear to say some variant of "What's up? I sent the complaint to you on May 16 and I haven't heard from you. Did you get it?" She did not and, in my view, that ends the matter; National Union did not, as a matter of law, exercise "excusable" neglect.
¶ 79. I would reverse the circuit court's order denying the Casper family's motion for default judgment.