Kimberly Carroll was due in court at Michigan’s 33rd District Court in Woodhaven on a Wednesday morning for what should have been a routine debt collection hearing. What followed was anything but. Carroll missed the initial call, earning herself a default judgment from Judge Michael K. McNally before the hearing had barely begun.
Then an unexpected iPhone connected to the Zoom session, court staff flagged it immediately, and the judge asked whoever it was to turn on their camera and identify themselves. Carroll appeared on screen, and it was immediately obvious she was in a moving vehicle. A seatbelt crossed her shoulder and scenery was clearly passing by the windows behind her.
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Judge McNally told her directly that she could not participate in a court hearing while driving and asked what exactly she thought she was doing. Carroll insisted she was a passenger, explained there had been a family emergency requiring her to leave town, and offered to have the driver pull over. The judge had questions, specifically about which seat she was sitting in. Carroll said the front left. Judge McNally pointed out, with considerable skepticism, that the front left is the driver’s seat, and the video continued to show Carroll looking out at passing scenery while his doubts visibly grew.
Things deteriorated from there, as the judge asked her outright if she thought she was fooling him and demanded she put the driver on camera immediately. Carroll pulled over near a business, got out, and the camera caught the driver’s side door swinging open on the correct side of the car. No other person appeared.
McNally called it as he saw it. Between missing the first hearing and the story she had just told, the default judgment stood and the amount owed came to $1,921.95. He wished her a good day and ended the call. Carroll later released a statement accepting full responsibility and acknowledging she had made a poor decision trying to join a court hearing from behind the wheel.
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