J.B. v. MKBS, LLC.

026 CO 50. No. 24SC747. Default Judgment—Setting Aside Default Judgment—Inconsistent Judgments.

June 23, 2026

In this case involving two defendants, one who defaulted and one who didn’t, the supreme court held that the district court didn’t abuse its discretion by allowing the defaulting defendant to testify at the non-defaulting defendant’s trial even though his testimony contradicted the facts admitted by his default. The court also concluded that the district court reasonably applied the three-factor test from Goodman Assocs., LLC v. WP Mountain Props., LLC, 222 P.3d 310, 319 (Colo. 2010), in determining whether to set aside the default judgment and that the defaulting defendant had established excusable neglect.

Finally, the court concluded that the district court didn’t abuse its discretion by entering judgment in favor of the defendant whose default judgment had been set aside because doing so avoided the entry of inconsistent judgments.

The court therefore affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals.