Chen v. WMK 89th Street LLC

Background

Plaintiffs brought this action on July 20, 2016, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law by numerous defendants. Only two defendants appeared. The court granted summary judgment in favor of those two defendants on March 18, 2019. Claims against other defendants remained.

The court stated that, during the four years the case had been pending, plaintiffs had taken no meaningful steps to pursue their claims against the remaining defendants. Plaintiffs had made some efforts after the court issued orders requiring them to explain why the action should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute, including inadequate applications for default judgment.

Plaintiffs’ counsel moved to withdraw on June 18, 2020, and the court granted that motion. The court then informed the self-represented plaintiffs that they had until August 7, 2020, to file any further applications for default judgment against the remaining defendants. The court warned that it would dismiss the case for failure to prosecute if it did not hear from them by that date. Plaintiffs filed no such motion and otherwise did not indicate an intent to continue the case. They gave no explanation for their inaction.

Legal standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) permits dismissal when a plaintiff fails to prosecute or comply with the rules or a court order. The court explained that this rule also permits a district court to dismiss a case on its own initiative for failure to prosecute. The court considered the relevant factors, including the duration of the plaintiff’s failures, notice that further delay could lead to dismissal, possible prejudice from further delay, the burden on the court’s docket, and whether a lesser sanction would be effective.

Ruling

The court found that plaintiffs had failed to meaningfully litigate their remaining claims for more than four years and had acted only after being prompted by court orders. Plaintiffs had received a clear warning that continued delay would result in dismissal, but the warning did not lead to further action. The court also concluded that keeping the case on the docket would be unfair to other litigants awaiting the court’s attention and that no lesser sanction would be effective.

Judge Gregory H. Woods ordered that the action be dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b). The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate all pending motions, adjourn all deadlines, close the case, and serve the order on plaintiffs by certified mail.