The Barter House, Inc. v. Infinity Spirits LLC
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:17-cv-09276
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In The Barter House v. Infinity Spirits, Judge Engelmayer authorized defense counsel’s withdrawal and reinstated the default judgment against the entity defendants.
The entity defendants’ default judgment was reinstated, while claims against Brian Hopkins continued. Defense counsel Tom M. Fini was authorized to withdraw, and case deadlines resumed.
What happened
The Barter House, Inc. v. Infinity Spirits LLC involved defense counsel’s request to withdraw from representing all defendants. The court had given the defendants two weeks to find replacement counsel, warning that it would allow withdrawal and reinstate the existing default judgment if no new lawyer appeared.
No replacement lawyer appeared. The court explained that corporate defendants must have lawyers and cannot represent themselves without one. It therefore reinstated the default judgment against the entity defendants, while claims against individual defendant Brian Hopkins continued.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer lifted the stay of deadlines, set October 13, 2020, as the deadline for responses to motions in limine, and stated that a separate order would refer the case for a damages hearing.
The detailed version
- The Barter House, Inc. v. Infinity Spirits LLC · No. 1:17-cv-09276
- Paul Engelmayer
- Sept. 29, 2020
Background
On September 14, 2020, the court found that defense counsel Tom M. Fini had shown good cause to withdraw from representing all defendants. The court stayed the case’s operative deadlines for two weeks so the defendants could obtain replacement counsel. It warned that if replacement counsel had not appeared by September 28, 2020, the court would authorize Fini’s withdrawal and reinstate the default judgment against the entity defendants.
Ruling
No replacement counsel appeared. The court stated that a corporate defendant must be represented by a lawyer and cannot represent itself without one. The court therefore authorized Fini’s withdrawal as counsel for all defendants and reinstated the default judgment entered at docket 340.
The court stated that the claims against individual defendant Brian Hopkins would continue. It lifted the stay of operative deadlines and ordered responses to motions in limine by October 13, 2020. The court also noted that it had separately postponed the October 6, 2020 pretrial conference and directed Fini to serve this order and the postponement order on Hopkins if Hopkins had not obtained electronic filing credentials. The court stated that it would issue a separate order referring the case for a damages hearing.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.