Paguada v. Homesublime, LLC
- John Cronan
- 1:20-cv-06667
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Paguada v. Homesublime, Judge Cronan gave Paguada one final chance to seek default judgment before possible dismissal for failure to prosecute.
Josue Paguada and Homesublime, LLC; the order gave Paguada a final deadline to seek default judgment and warned that the case could be dismissed if he did not act.
What happened
In Paguada v. Homesublime, LLC, Josue Paguada sued Homesublime, LLC, which was served but did not appear or respond to the complaint. The Clerk entered a certificate of default against Homesublime.
The Court had set deadlines for Paguada to request a default judgment, but he missed them and did not explain why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. Paguada had previously requested more time to contact Homesublime or seek a default judgment.
Judge John P. Cronan extended Paguada’s deadline one last time, until February 22, 2021, to move for default judgment. The Court warned that it would dismiss the case for failure to prosecute without further notice if he missed that deadline, and it vacated the December 14 order and postponed indefinitely the deadlines and conference set by that order.
The detailed version
- Paguada v. Homesublime, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-06667
- John Cronan
- Feb. 16, 2021
Background
Josue Paguada filed the complaint on August 20, 2020. Homesublime, LLC was served on September 4, 2020, and its deadline to answer or otherwise respond was September 25, 2020. Homesublime did not appear or respond.
Paguada told the Court that he was seeking a certificate of default and planned to request a default judgment. The Clerk entered a certificate of default against Homesublime on December 14, 2020. The Court then gave Paguada until January 13, 2021, to move for default judgment or explain why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to take required steps to move the case forward.
Court’s Action
Paguada did neither by the January 13 deadline. The Court stated that it had authority under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) to dismiss the case for failure to prosecute, but granted Paguada one last opportunity and extended the deadline to move for default judgment to February 22, 2021.
The Court warned that if Paguada did not move for default judgment by February 22, it would dismiss the action for failure to prosecute without further notice. The Court also vacated its December 14, 2020 order, postponed indefinitely all deadlines set in that order, and postponed indefinitely the February 24, 2021 conference. This order did not decide whether Paguada was entitled to a default judgment or resolve the merits of his claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.