Casablanca Foods LLC v. Mina Sahar Saffron LLC

Background

The court had previously ordered the defendants to show cause on August 7, 2025, why a preliminary injunction should not be entered. A preliminary injunction is a court order issued before final judgment that may require a party to take or stop taking specified actions. The earlier order required Casablanca Foods LLC to serve Mina Sahar Saffron LLC and Palwasha Raqib using a method allowed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4. It separately permitted service on Farshad Foroudi through Raqib because Casablanca Foods had shown that traditional service methods were impracticable after diligent efforts failed to identify a valid address for him.

On July 18, the service deadline, Casablanca Foods moved for permission to serve Mina Sahar Saffron LLC and Raqib by email. It said that a process server had twice unsuccessfully attempted personal service at 57 Lincoln Road, Apartment A21, Brooklyn, New York, which Casablanca Foods described as Mina Sahar Saffron LLC’s business address and an address it strongly believed was Raqib’s residence. Casablanca Foods said a third attempt would be made that evening and, if unsuccessful, that it would try “nail-and-mail” service on Raqib under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules § 308(4). It acknowledged that this method might not be sufficient to serve Mina Sahar Saffron LLC.

Court’s Analysis

New York law permits a court to direct an alternative service method when service through the methods ordinarily listed in the statute is impracticable. The court explained that the plaintiff must make some showing that the prescribed methods cannot be used. It found that Casablanca Foods had not made that showing for the remaining defendants. Unlike the situation involving Foroudi, Casablanca Foods stated that it knew Raqib’s residence and had consistently maintained that it could serve Mina Sahar Saffron LLC by serving Raqib. The court noted that New York law permits service on a limited liability company through, among others, a manager or an authorized agent.

The court expressly took no position on whether any attempted “nail-and-mail” service would satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 and New York Civil Practice Law and Rules § 308(4). It also stated that it would not decide the preliminary-injunction motion without first giving the opposing parties enough time to gather evidence and present arguments.

Order

The court extended the deadline for Casablanca Foods to serve the defendants to July 25, 2025. It extended the deadline for the defendants to file opposition papers on the preliminary-injunction motion to August 4, 2025, and the deadline for Casablanca Foods to file any reply to August 7, 2025. The show-cause conference was rescheduled for August 14, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 12C of the Southern District of New York.

Judge Gregory H. Woods directed Casablanca Foods to serve the order on the defendants and directed the clerk to terminate the motion at Docket No. 22. The opinion does not expressly describe the alternative-service motion as granted or denied.