I've had summons 2x but never had to appear. Both cases were resolved out of court, I never even knew what they were about. Which made me happy, becaues I didn't have a car at the time
As for that case with the woman... good freak'n grief, 40% of the guy's salary in Alimony? that seems a bit steep... especially for how much that guy makes. You don't need $11,000/month to get by! And as for the stock broker... doesn't seem very intelligent when it came to that lady but yeah... I'd have sided with him too