Cruz v. West 4th Marketplace

Background

Cruz’s complaint asserted claims for unpaid wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law, failure to provide required employment paperwork under New York law, and pregnancy discrimination and retaliation under New York human-rights laws. She initially sued West 4th Marketplace, Inc., Hungry & Healthy Marketplace LLC, Riverside Gourmet Deli, and Abdul LNU. The opinion text states that Cruz served those defendants with the original complaint and that they did not appear. Cruz later filed an amended complaint adding Salimen Nagi, Mosa Nagi, and Hamza Nagi, without adding claims against the four originally served defendants.

Requests and Service Issue

Cruz requested an extension of the October 20, 2025 deadline to file a motion for default judgment, asking to move the deadline to November 5, 2025. She cited the unexpected resignation of her firm’s only paralegal and office manager, religious-holiday absences, an upcoming trial, and an appellate brief deadline. Cruz also argued that Rule 5(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure did not require service of the amended complaint on the original defendants because the amended complaint asserted no new claims for relief against them.

Ruling

The court stated that service of process was sufficient as to West 4th Marketplace, Inc., Hungry & Healthy Marketplace LLC, Riverside Gourmet Deli, and Abdul LNU because Cruz had served the initial complaint and the amended complaint added no new claims against them. The court extended the deadline for Cruz to file a default-judgment motion from October 20 to November 5, 2025. Because Cruz had not sought default against those four defendants, the court ordered her to file a default-judgment motion against them by November 5, 2025. The order addressed the filing deadline and service issue; it did not enter default judgment.