Shepherd v. Keyser
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:21-cv-02363
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 8
In Shepherd v. Keyser, Judge Karas gave Eon Shepherd one final service deadline but denied his default-judgment requests because defendants had not been properly served.
Eon Shepherd and the defendants in the case, particularly with respect to service of process and Shepherd’s requests for default judgment.
What happened
In Shepherd v. Keyser, Eon Shepherd asked for more time to serve the defendants. A letter submitted on his behalf said that he had misunderstood the court’s earlier instructions because of his visual impairment. The court noted that Shepherd had already received several extensions in the case.
The court explained that New York law permits service by mail in certain circumstances, including a process requiring a summons and complaint, a service statement, an acknowledgment form, and a return envelope. It set August 16, 2024, as the deadline for Shepherd to properly serve the defendants and stated that there would be no more extensions.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas granted Shepherd one final extension but denied his various requests for default judgment because he had not properly served the defendants. The clerk was directed to terminate the pending motions and mail Shepherd copies of the summonses and complaint.
The detailed version
- Shepherd v. Keyser · No. 7:21-cv-02363
- Kenneth Karas
- June 13, 2024
Background
Eon Shepherd, proceeding without a lawyer, sued Superintendent W. Keyser and other defendants. The court had previously given Shepherd several extensions to serve the defendants. In a June 5, 2024 letter, Shepherd and Lawrence Dawkins asked for another extension, explaining that Shepherd had misunderstood the court’s earlier service instructions and that his visual impairment contributed to the error. The letter also stated that Shepherd did not have copies of the summonses and complaints.
Service Requirements
The court explained that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 allows an individual to be served under the law of the state where the federal court is located or where service occurs. Under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules § 312-a, service by mail may be completed by mailing the summons and complaint with two copies of a service statement, an acknowledgment-of-receipt form, and a postage-paid return envelope. Service is complete when the signed acknowledgment is mailed or delivered back to the sender. The court also described the required information and warnings in those forms.
The court noted that service normally must occur within 90 days after a complaint is filed. Because this case was more than three years old, the court stated that Shepherd had to complete service under Rule 4, including by using § 312-a if he chose that method, and file proof of proper service by August 16, 2024. The court stated that there would be no further extensions.
Rulings
The court granted Shepherd one final extension of time to serve the defendants. It denied his various applications for default judgment because, through the letter, he had effectively conceded that he had not properly served the defendants. A default judgment is a judgment requested because a defendant has failed to respond, but the court explained that ineffective service was a reason to deny that request.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the pending motions identified as Docket Nos. 48 and 51, mail a copy of the order to Shepherd, and mail him copies of the summonses and complaint: one copy of each summons and ten copies of the complaint, one for each defendant.
Read the full 8-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.