There may have been info in the plaintiff’s Complaint that identified where he resided and what his legal standing was to commence the lawsuit.
The defendant may have been able to construct permissible inferences from that.
He may have been able to construct a silly paper hat from it too . The plaintiff had a lawyer and the defendant did not , and you want to assume the pleading favored Mr Scwilk ?
His lawyer was smart enough not to have his client show up so Scwilk could not prove his affirmative defense with the plaintiff's own testimony .
Oldest trick in the book prove your case with you opposition testimony . Second oldest , have your client lay low so they can't do that .