Pristine Jewelers NY, Inc. v. Broner
- Lewis Liman
- 1:18-cv-12155
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Pristine Jewelers v. Broner, Judge Liman granted counsel’s withdrawal requests, with ABL’s withdrawal effective March 27 and a deadline to retain counsel.
Ravone Littlejohn’s attorney was allowed to withdraw. Counsel for About Billions, LLC was allowed to withdraw effective March 27, 2020, and ABL was required to retain new counsel to defend itself or face possible default-judgment proceedings.
What happened
Pristine Jewelers NY, Inc. v. Broner involved requests by attorneys for Ravone Littlejohn and About Billions, LLC to stop representing those defendants. The attorneys cited confidential reasons, including an irreversible breakdown in the attorney-client relationship for Littlejohn.
The court had previously dismissed About Billions, LLC after approving a settlement, while keeping authority to enforce that agreement. Pristine Jewelers later sought to reopen the agreement and pursue a default judgment, so About Billions, LLC might need to defend itself again.
Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the request to withdraw for Littlejohn. He permitted counsel for About Billions, LLC to withdraw effective March 27, 2020, required the company to retain a lawyer if it wanted to defend itself, and stated that the court would consider a default-judgment motion if no lawyer appeared by March 30. The case remained stayed until an April 1 status conference.
The detailed version
- Pristine Jewelers NY, Inc. v. Broner · No. 1:18-cv-12155
- Lewis Liman
- Mar. 2, 2020
Background
The court considered two applications by attorneys to withdraw as counsel. Dmitriy Shakhnevich sought to withdraw as counsel for Defendant Ravone Littlejohn. Kevin M. Brown of Mintz & Gold LLP sought to withdraw as counsel for Defendant About Billions, LLC (ABL). The attorneys submitted confidential letters explaining their reasons for seeking withdrawal.
For Littlejohn, Shakhnevich reported that the attorney-client relationship had irreversibly broken down. Neither Littlejohn nor Pristine Jewelers submitted opposition, and Shakhnevich did not seek a lien against Littlejohn.
ABL had previously been dismissed after the court approved a settlement agreement on June 20, 2019, while retaining jurisdiction to enforce the agreement. On January 22, 2020, Pristine Jewelers sought permission to reopen the settlement agreement and seek a default judgment against ABL and Adrien Broner. The court therefore considered that ABL might need new counsel to defend against that potential proceeding.
Legal standard
When deciding whether an attorney may withdraw, the court considers the reasons for withdrawal and the effect of withdrawal on the timing of the case. A corporation may not appear in court without an attorney. If a corporation repeatedly fails to appear through counsel, the court may enter a default judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55.
Ruling
The court granted the motion to withdraw as counsel for Littlejohn. It permitted Brown to withdraw as counsel for ABL effective March 27, 2020. The court found that the reasons for withdrawal were satisfactory, that Brown did not intend to assert a lien, and that withdrawal was unlikely to cause unacceptable delay because any potential default-judgment proceeding would likely require little or no discovery and the case was not near trial.
The court notified ABL that it had to retain counsel if it intended to defend itself. If counsel did not appear by March 30, 2020, the court would entertain a motion for default judgment against ABL. The court ordered current counsel to serve ABL with the order and file proof of service. It scheduled a status conference for April 1, 2020, kept the case stayed until then, and directed the clerk to close the docket entries concerning the withdrawal applications.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.