The Barter House, Inc. v. Infinity Spirits LLC
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:17-cv-09276
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In The Barter House v. Infinity Spirits, Judge Engelmayer said plaintiffs may seek default judgment because corporate defendants lacked counsel.
The corporate defendants, who lacked counsel to proceed in the case, and the plaintiffs, who were permitted to seek a default judgment.
What happened
The Barter House, Inc. and other plaintiffs sued Infinity Spirits LLC and other defendants. The court had ordered Hopkins to retain new counsel for the corporate defendants and required that counsel to file a notice of appearance by February 14, 2020, but no counsel appeared.
The court explained that corporate defendants must be represented by a lawyer to proceed in the federal court. Because no successor counsel appeared and trial was approaching, the court said plaintiffs’ lawyers were allowed to seek a default judgment against the corporate defendants and encouraged them to file promptly if they planned to do so.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued this order on February 28, 2020. The order did not enter a default judgment; it stated that plaintiffs could move for one.
The detailed version
- The Barter House, Inc. v. Infinity Spirits LLC · No. 1:17-cv-09276
- Paul Engelmayer
- Feb. 28, 2020
Background
On January 30, 2020, the court ordered Hopkins to retain successor counsel for the corporate defendants. The court required successor counsel to file a notice of appearance by February 14, 2020. No counsel appeared by that deadline.
Court’s reasoning
The court reiterated that corporate defendants must be represented by counsel to proceed in the federal court, citing Lattanzio v. COMTA. Because the corporate defendants had no appearing counsel, the court stated that plaintiffs’ counsel were at liberty to move for a default judgment. A default judgment is a judgment that may be entered when a party fails to defend the case. The court encouraged plaintiffs’ counsel to file promptly if they were considering such an application because the trial date was approaching.
Disposition
The court did not grant or deny a motion for default judgment in this order. It permitted plaintiffs’ counsel to make that motion against the corporate defendants. The order was signed by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer and dated February 28, 2020.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.