Eva's Photography, Inc. v. Rachel Katz, LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:20-cv-04663
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Eva’s Photography v. Rachel Katz, Judge Cave stayed deadlines and required new counsel after Plaintiff’s lawyer was suspended.
Eva’s Photography, Inc., its suspended counsel Richard Liebowitz, and the Leibowitz firm were affected. The order required Eva’s Photography to obtain new counsel and required another attorney or paralegal from the firm to serve the order and file proof of service.
What happened
In Eva’s Photography, Inc. v. Rachel Katz, LLC, Plaintiff’s counsel, Richard Liebowitz, was temporarily suspended from practicing law in the Southern District of New York while disciplinary proceedings continued.
The court stayed all deadlines for 30 days and postponed the December 8, 2020 settlement conference indefinitely. Within that 30-day period, Eva’s Photography had to obtain another lawyer from the Leibowitz firm or a lawyer outside that firm because the corporation could not represent itself. If it could not obtain counsel, the case could be dismissed for failing to pursue it.
Judge Sarah L. Cave also ordered another attorney or paralegal from Mr. Liebowitz’s firm to provide Eva’s Photography with the order and file proof that it had done so.
The detailed version
- Eva's Photography, Inc. v. Rachel Katz, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-04663
- Valerie Caproni
- Dec. 2, 2020
Background
Plaintiff’s counsel, Richard Liebowitz, had been suspended from practicing law in the Southern District of New York on an interim basis while further disciplinary proceedings were pending. The opinion does not state the reason for the suspension.
Court’s Order
The court stayed all deadlines for 30 days from the order’s date. It also postponed indefinitely the settlement conference scheduled to resume on December 8, 2020.
Within 30 days, Eva’s Photography, Inc. was required to appear through either another attorney from the Leibowitz firm or an attorney outside that firm. The court stated that the corporation could not proceed without a lawyer. If it could not obtain other counsel within 30 days, the case could be dismissed for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to move the case forward.
The court further ordered an attorney or paralegal from Mr. Liebowitz’s firm, other than Mr. Liebowitz, to serve Eva’s Photography with a copy of the order by December 11, 2020, and to file proof of service by December 14, 2020.
Disposition
Judge Sarah L. Cave stayed the deadlines for 30 days and postponed the settlement conference indefinitely. The order did not dismiss the case; it stated only that dismissal could occur if Plaintiff failed to obtain counsel within the required period.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.