Sygall v. Pitsicalis
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:18-cv-02730-VSB-SN
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Sygall v. Pitsicalis, Judge Broderick struck Leon Hendrix’s answer after he failed to appear at a court conference.
Leon Hendrix was directly affected because his answer was stricken from the record. The order also concerned the defendants’ obligation to obtain counsel and appear in court.
What happened
In Sygall v. Pitsicalis, the court had previously ordered the defendants to obtain lawyers and appear within 60 days after their attorney withdrew. The court explained that individual defendants may represent themselves, but companies may not appear without lawyers.
At a February 7, 2020 status conference, David Sygall appeared, but none of the defendants did. Sygall asked the court to strike Leon Hendrix’s answer because Hendrix failed to appear and follow the court’s order.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered that Hendrix’s answer be stricken from the record. The order addressed Hendrix’s failure to appear at the conference.
The detailed version
- Sygall v. Pitsicalis · No. 1:18-cv-02730-VSB-SN
- Vernon Broderick
- Feb. 10, 2020
Background
On November 15, 2019, the court granted Thomas T. Osinski’s request to withdraw as counsel for the defendants. The court directed the defendants to obtain counsel and appear before the court within 60 days or risk default. It also stated that individual defendants may appear without lawyers, but corporate defendants may not. The court scheduled a status conference for February 7, 2020.
Motion and Analysis
David Sygall appeared at the February 7 status conference, but no defendants appeared. Sygall moved to strike Leon Hendrix’s answer for failing to appear and comply with the court’s prior order. The court relied on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A), which permits a court to issue orders when a party fails to obey an order concerning discovery. The court stated that this rule also permits striking the pleading of a defendant who does not appear.
Ruling
The court ordered that the answer filed by Leon Hendrix, docket entry 37, be stricken from the record because Hendrix failed to appear at the February 7 conference. The opinion does not state a separate disposition of Sygall’s motion using the words “granted” or “denied.”
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.