Hansen v. Equifax Information Services, LLC
- Lewis Liman
- 1:24-cv-10029
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hansen v. Equifax, Judge Liman ordered Hansen to file and serve her complaint by March 31, 2025, giving defendants 30 days to respond.
Lucille Hansen and the defendants, including Trans Union LLC, Equifax Information Services, LLC, and Experian Information Solutions, Inc.
What happened
In Hansen v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, the case had been moved from New York state court to federal court, but Lucille Hansen had not yet filed a complaint. Trans Union asked the court to require her to file one and set a deadline for the defendants to respond.
The court explained that the federal rules require service of a complaint within 90 days after filing and that, in a removed case, courts have treated the 90-day period as running from removal. The case could not move forward until a complaint was served.
The court ordered Lucille Hansen to file and serve a complaint by March 31, 2025. By agreement, the defendants would have 30 days after service to answer or otherwise respond. Judge Lewis J. Liman issued the order.
The detailed version
- Hansen v. Equifax Information Services, LLC · No. 1:24-cv-10029
- Lewis Liman
- Jan. 7, 2025
Background
The action was removed from the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, on December 31, 2024. Lucille Hansen had not yet filed a complaint. Trans Union LLC moved for an order requiring Hansen to serve and file a complaint and establishing a deadline for the defendants to answer.
Court’s reasoning
The court cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m), which generally requires a plaintiff to serve the complaint within 90 days after filing. The court noted that several courts have held that, in a removed action, the complaint must be served within 90 days after removal. The court also cited Rule 81(c)(2)(A), which provides that a defendant in a removed case need not answer until 21 days after receiving, through service or otherwise, a copy of the initial pleading stating the claim for relief. Because no complaint had been served, the case could not proceed.
Order
The court ordered Hansen to file and serve a complaint by March 31, 2025. By agreement of the parties, the defendants were given 30 days after service of the complaint to answer or otherwise respond. The opinion does not decide the merits of Hansen’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.