Lopez Rodriguez v. Tristate Linen, Inc.

Background

Pablo Lopez Rodriguez filed a putative class action asserting claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law. Tristate Linen, Inc. and Vaso Nikprelovic filed an answer denying the allegations. The case was referred to Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause for pretrial matters.

Rodriguez’s lawyer moved to withdraw, and the court granted that request on November 28, 2023. The court later scheduled several conferences, but Rodriguez did not appear either through a lawyer or without one. The defendants moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) to dismiss the complaint for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to move the case forward.

Review of the Recommendation

Neither side objected to Magistrate Judge Krause’s Report and Recommendation. Judge Roman therefore reviewed it for clear error—an obvious mistake in the record. He found no clear error and adopted the recommendation’s factual findings and legal analysis.

Ruling

The court found that Rodriguez had taken no action to litigate his claims for more than eight months, warranting dismissal for failure to prosecute. Because Rodriguez was proceeding without a lawyer and the court could not discern prejudice to the defendants, the court specified that the dismissal was without prejudice.

The court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of prosecution without prejudice, entered judgment in favor of the defendants, directed the Clerk to terminate the motion and the action, and directed that a copy of the opinion be mailed to Rodriguez.