In Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, Inc., 134 Tex. 388, 133 S.W.2d 124, 126 (1939), the Supreme Court established the guiding rule or principal which trial courts must follow when presented with a motion for new trial after a default judgment has been entered. A default judgment should be set aside and a new trial ordered in any case in which the failure of the defendant to answer before judgment was not intentional, or the result of conscious indifference on his part, but was due to a mistake or an accident; provided the motion for a new trial sets up a meritorious defense and is filed at a time when the granting thereof will occasion no delay or otherwise work an injury to the plaintiff, Craddock, 133 S.W.2d at 126. A trial court abuses its discretion by not granting a new trial when all three elements of the Craddock test are met. Director, State Employees Workers' Compensation Div. v. Evans, 889 S.W.2d 266, 268, 37 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 779 (Tex. 1994). In Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, the defendant was served with citation, which he forwarded to his insurance agent, who in turn forwarded the citation to the insurance company whose duty it was to defend. Although marked "urgent," the citation was mixed up with other insurance company mail and was not discovered until the day on which the default judgment was rendered. Thus, the defendant did not actually realize its mistake in time to correct it before the default judgment was rendered. Craddock, 133 S.W.2d at 125. The Court held that a default judgment should be set aside when the defendant establishes that: (1) the failure to answer was not intentional or the result of conscious indifference, but the result of an accident or mistake; (2) the motion for new trial sets up a meritorious defense; (3) granting the motion will occasion no undue delay or otherwise injure the plaintiff. Craddock, 133 S.W.2d at 126. Such a rule, we noted, is based upon equitable principles and "prevents an injustice to the defendant without working an injustice on the plaintiff." Id. In Ivy v. Carrell, 407 S.W.2d 212, 213, 10 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 24 (Tex. 1966), the Court again cited equitable principles and extended Craddock to cases in which a party has answered but fails to appear for trial.