If the defendant did not engage during the proceedings, what statement best reflects the prospects for setting aside a default judgment?

• A. He has demonstrated a real prospect of defending the claim.
• B. He does not have good prospects of setting judgment aside because he has not demonstrated any real prospect of defending the claim, and mislaying the documents would not constitute a good reason for him to be allowed to defend the claim.
• C. He has good prospects of setting judgment aside.
• D. He must pay the costs.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that setting aside a default judgment hinges on two things: there must be a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, and there must be a good reason for not taking part in the proceedings. If the defendant did not engage at all and there is no credible defence on the merits, the court is unlikely to set aside the default. Losing or mislaying documents is not by itself regarded as a sufficient, persuasive reason to enable a defence to proceed. So, since there’s no real prospect of defending the claim and the document loss isn’t a strong justification, the answer reflects that there are no good grounds to set aside.