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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled Jan. 10, 2020

Nuno Carrera v. DT Hospitality Group Inc.

Judge
Ronnie Abrams
Docket
1:19-cv-04235
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Nuno Carrera v. DT Hospitality Group, Judge Abrams ordered plaintiffs to report whether they will seek default judgment against the company.

Who this affects

The order directly affected the plaintiffs, who had to decide whether to seek default judgment, and DT Hospitality Group Inc. and Kien Truong, who had not responded to the court’s instructions about separate corporate counsel.

What happened

In Nuno Carrera v. DT Hospitality Group Inc., the court addressed the company’s lack of a separate lawyer in the case. The defendants are DT Hospitality Group Inc. and Kien Truong, and the plaintiffs are Patricio Nuno Carrera and Geraldo Marquez.

The court had repeatedly told Kien Truong that he could represent himself but that the company had to obtain its own lawyer. The court had warned that, if he did not do so, the plaintiffs could ask for a default judgment against the company. The court had received no response from the defendants.

The court ordered the plaintiffs to tell it by January 17, 2020, whether they intended to seek default judgment against DT Hospitality Group Inc. Judge Ronnie Abrams also directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to the defendants.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Nuno Carrera v. DT Hospitality Group Inc. · No. 1:19-cv-04235
Judge
Ronnie Abrams
Date
Jan. 10, 2020

Background

The plaintiffs are Patricio Nuno Carrera and Geraldo Marquez. The defendants are DT Hospitality Group Inc., doing business as CO BA Restaurant, and Kien Truong.

The court stated that Kien Truong had been repeatedly advised that he could proceed individually without a lawyer, but that he had to obtain separate counsel for DT Hospitality Group Inc. The court cited the rule that a corporation cannot appear in a civil lawsuit without an attorney. On December 4, 2019, the court ordered Truong to tell it by December 23, 2019, whether he had obtained separate counsel for the company. The court warned that, if he did not do so, the plaintiffs could seek a default judgment against DT Hospitality Group Inc. The court had received no response from the defendants.

Order

The court ordered the plaintiffs to inform it no later than January 17, 2020, whether they intended to move for default judgment against DT Hospitality Group Inc. It did not enter default judgment in this order. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail the order to the defendants. Judge Ronnie Abrams signed the order.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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