In Highsmith v. Britten, 2D2025-0679 (Fla. 2d DCA Dec. 17, 2025), the Second District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s denial without hearing of a motion to vacate a default. The defaulted defendant filed her motion to vacate pursuant to Rule 1.540(b)(3), alleging that plaintiff’s counsel engaged in fraud, misrepresentation, and/or misconduct when he told her the Complaint filed was “just a legal formality” and that she did not need to respond, but then subsequently sought to default the defendant due to her failure to respond to the Complaint. The Second DCA found defendant’s motion to vacate to have sufficiently raised enough facts to warrant an evidentiary hearing as opposed to an outright denial without hearing. For more information, read the entire opinion here: https://flcourts-media.flcourts.gov/content/download/2482644/opinion/Opinion_2025-0679.pdf.