Martinez Herrera v. LDJ Contracting, LLC
- Philip Halpern
- 7:23-cv-10326
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Martinez Herrera v. LDJ Contracting, Judge Halpern extended the deadline for Plaintiff to amend her complaint or pursue default judgment.
Irene Martinez Herrera must meet the February 7, 2025 deadline by either amending and serving the complaint or following the Court’s procedures for seeking a default judgment against LDJ Contracting LLC and Luis DeJesus.
What happened
In Irene Martinez Herrera v. LDJ Contracting LLC, et al., Defendants did not respond to the complaint, and the clerk entered defaults against them. Plaintiff later sought permission to amend after a new appeals-court decision concerning injury requirements for certain New York Labor Law claims.
The Court had previously required Plaintiff to follow its procedures for seeking a default judgment and had allowed an amended complaint by January 6, 2025. The opinion states that there had been no docket activity since the Court’s earlier order, although the text is incomplete at that point.
The Court extended Plaintiff’s deadline to February 7, 2025. Judge Philip M. Halpern ordered Plaintiff by that date to either file and serve an amended complaint or comply with the Court’s procedures for seeking a default judgment; failure to strictly comply may result in dismissal of the action without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
The detailed version
- Martinez Herrera v. LDJ Contracting, LLC · No. 7:23-cv-10326
- Philip Halpern
- Jan. 24, 2025
Background
Irene Martinez Herrera filed this action on November 27, 2023, against LDJ Contracting LLC and Luis DeJesus. The opinion states that DeJesus was served on January 3, 2024, and LDJ Contracting LLC was served on May 16, 2024. The clerk entered certificates of default against both defendants on August 21, 2024.
The Court directed Plaintiff to follow its Individual Practices Rule 4(B) to seek a default judgment. After granting an extension of that deadline, the Court granted Plaintiff leave to amend the complaint in light of a recent Second Circuit decision requiring a plaintiff to establish a concrete injury for certain claims under New York Labor Law § 195. The Court directed Plaintiff to file and serve an amended complaint by January 6, 2025. The opinion’s text is incomplete after stating that there had been no docket activity since the Court’s prior order.
Order
On January 24, 2025, the Court extended Plaintiff’s deadline to February 7, 2025. By that date, Plaintiff must either file and serve an amended complaint or comply with the Court’s Individual Practices Rule 4(B) for obtaining a default judgment against Defendants.
The Court warned that failure to strictly comply with its Individual Practices and the order may result in dismissal of the action in its entirety, without prejudice, for failure to prosecute under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). The order does not decide the merits of Plaintiff’s claims or enter a default judgment.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.