Johnson v. Kelsey
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:18-cv-04330-HSG
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Johnson v. Kelsey, Judge Gilliam granted Johnson’s motion to strike defendants’ answer after they stopped participating and failed to respond.
Scott Johnson, Frances I. Kelsey, and Go To Auto Care Inc.; the defendants’ answer was struck, and Johnson was directed to file a renewed motion for entry of default.
What happened
In Johnson v. Kelsey, Scott Johnson asked the court to strike the answer filed by Frances I. Kelsey and Go To Auto Care Inc. Johnson argued that the defendants had abandoned the case because they had not appeared at hearings or otherwise participated for nearly two years.
The defendants did not oppose Johnson’s motion, even after the court gave them another deadline and warned that it would grant the motion if they did not respond. The court also noted that the defendants had failed to comply with court orders and had not otherwise appeared in the case.
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. granted the motion and struck the defendants’ answer. The court directed Johnson to file a renewed request for entry of default by July 13, 2022; it did not itself enter default in this order.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. Kelsey · No. 4:18-cv-04330-HSG
- Haywood Gilliam
- July 6, 2022
Background
Scott Johnson asked the Clerk of Court to enter default against Go To Auto Care Inc. because the company had not appeared at various hearings. The Clerk declined because the company had filed an answer in August 2018. Johnson then moved to strike the answer of Frances I. Kelsey and Go To Auto Care Inc., arguing that the defendants had abandoned the case.
Court’s Analysis
The defendants did not file an opposition by the deadline required by the court’s local rules. The court gave them an additional opportunity to oppose the motion by June 30, 2022, and warned that failure to respond would result in the motion being granted and the answer being stricken. The defendants did not respond, appear, or otherwise participate by that deadline.
The court relied on its inherent power to control its docket. It found that the defendants’ failure to appear, failure to comply with court orders, and failure to oppose the motion supported striking their answer.
Ruling
The court granted Johnson’s motion and struck the answer of Frances I. Kelsey and Go To Auto Care Inc. The court directed Johnson to file a renewed motion for entry of default by July 13, 2022. This order did not itself enter default or decide the underlying claims.
Effect
The order removed the defendants’ answer from the case and directed the next procedural step concerning possible default. It did not determine liability or resolve the merits of Johnson’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.