Adweek, LLC v. Pompei
- Vyskocil
- 1:20-cv-08369
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Adweek v. Pompei, Judge Vyskocil discontinued the action without costs, allowing timely restoration before dismissal would become with prejudice.
Adweek, LLC’s action against Eric Pompei was discontinued without costs and initially without prejudice, subject to restoration by February 28, 2021; otherwise, the dismissal would be with prejudice.
What happened
Adweek, LLC v. Pompei was removed to federal court after Adweek failed to appear or take action to prosecute the case. The court ordered Adweek to explain its inaction and directed Eric Pompei to serve that order.
Pompei later filed proof that he had served the order and told the court that the matter had been settled and an agreement signed. Adweek still did not respond to the court’s orders.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ordered that the action be discontinued without costs and without prejudice to restoring it to the court’s calendar by February 28, 2021. If no restoration request was made by then, the dismissal would be with prejudice, and Pompei was required to serve the order on Adweek.
The detailed version
- Adweek, LLC v. Pompei · No. 1:20-cv-08369
- Vyskocil
- Jan. 29, 2021
Background
The action was removed from New York State Supreme Court, County of New York, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 7, 2020. On December 2, 2020, the court ordered Adweek, LLC to show cause in writing why it had failed to appear or take action to prosecute the case. The court also ordered Eric Pompei to serve that order on Adweek and file proof of service.
After no proof of service was filed, the court issued another order on December 28, 2020. That order required Pompei to show cause why counsel should not be sanctioned for failing to comply with the earlier order and again required service of the December 2 order. Pompei filed proof of service on January 4, 2021, and on January 5 told the court that the matter had been settled and an agreement had been signed. Adweek did not appear or respond to the court’s orders.
Ruling
The court ordered that the action be discontinued without costs to any party and without prejudice to restoring the action to the court’s calendar if an application to restore was made by February 28, 2021. The order stated that if no such application was made by that date, the dismissal would be with prejudice. The court also warned Adweek that failure to comply with court orders and prosecute the case could result in dismissal with prejudice for failure to prosecute under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). Pompei was ordered to serve the January 29 order on Adweek by February 3, 2021, and file proof of service by February 10, 2021. The court did not decide the underlying dispute or the reported settlement.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.