352 Capital GP LLC v. Wear
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:24-cv-05102
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In 352 Capital GP LLC v. Wear, Judge Caproni ordered Wear to file a notice of appearance and denied his request to represent entities.
Ryan Wear and the entities he sought to represent. Wear was given a way to appear for himself, but his request to represent those entities was denied; the order also stated that his appearance would not remove other defendants from default.
What happened
In 352 Capital GP LLC v. Wear, the clerk had entered a default against several defendants, including Ryan Wear, after the plaintiff sought a default judgment. Wear then filed an answer saying he intended to represent himself and entities he owned.
The court explained that corporations cannot represent themselves in federal court and must appear through a lawyer. It ordered Wear to file a notice of appearance by November 4, 2024, if he wanted to represent himself; filing the notice would remove him from default and allow the case against him to proceed.
The court denied Wear’s request to represent entities he owned and stated that his appearance would not remove any other defendant from default. Judge Valerie Caproni signed the order.
The detailed version
- 352 Capital GP LLC v. Wear · No. 1:24-cv-05102
- Valerie Caproni
- Oct. 28, 2024
Background
The clerk issued a Certificate of Default on October 21, 2024, and 352 Capital GP LLC filed a proposed order requiring several defendants, including Ryan Wear, to explain why default judgment should not be entered. On October 23, Wear filed an answer stating that he intended to proceed without a lawyer for himself and “on behalf of entities owned by Ryan Wear as allowed by this Court.”
Court’s Reasoning
The court stated that a corporation cannot represent itself in federal court and may appear only through an attorney. The order addressed only Wear’s ability to appear for himself and for entities he claimed to own; it did not decide the underlying claims.
Ruling
The court ordered Wear to file a notice of appearance on the public docket by Monday, November 4, 2024, if he wished to represent himself. If he filed that notice, he would no longer be in default, and the litigation against him would proceed under the court’s Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order. The court denied Wear’s request to represent “entities owned by Ryan Wear.” It also stated that Wear’s appearance would not remove any defendant other than Wear from default. The clerk was directed to mail the order to Wear.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.