Jackson v. Phoenix Transportation Service

Background

The court had ordered service of process on the defendants. The U.S. Marshals Service initially could not serve them at the address Jackson provided. Jackson later supplied a corrected address, but the Marshals Service needed another order of service. After Jackson reported yet another new address, the court entered a further service order. The Marshals Service served the defendants on June 25, 2019, and their answers were due July 16, 2019. They did not answer.

On February 14, 2020, Koller filed a bankruptcy notice. The court stated that the bankruptcy law's automatic stay paused the action against Koller, but did not pause the action against her co-defendants.

Order

Because the defendants' time to answer had passed, the court directed Jackson to do one of two things by March 19, 2020: apply for a default judgment against Phoenix Transportation System and Wulezyn, or voluntarily discontinue the action. The order stated that failure to do either could result in dismissal without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41 for failure to prosecute, without further notice. The court directed Jackson to follow its procedures if he sought a default judgment and encouraged him to ask the New York Legal Assistance Group clinic for assistance.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free appeal status for that purpose. The order did not decide the underlying claims. Judge Cathy Seibel signed the order.

Disposition and scope

This was a procedural order addressing service, unanswered claims, bankruptcy's automatic pause, possible default judgment or voluntary discontinuance, and appeal status. It did not enter a default judgment or dismiss the action. The caption identifies the company as Phoenix Transportation Service, while the directive refers to it as Phoenix Transportation System.