Rios v. Zion Farm LLC

Background

Ezekiel Rios filed this Fair Labor Standards Act case on May 14, 2019, on behalf of himself, other collective plaintiffs, and a proposed class. On July 30, 2019, Rios voluntarily dismissed the case as to Mountain Farms, Inc. and Kyu Ok Han. The case continued against Zion Farm LLC and Beom Y. Lee.

The docket had no activity for more than a year. On December 7, 2020, the court ordered Rios to seek a judgment based on the remaining defendants’ failure to respond by December 21, 2020, or explain why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. Rios took no action, and the deadline passed without a response.

Court’s Analysis

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) permits a district court to dismiss an action when a plaintiff fails to prosecute it. The court considered five factors: the length of the delay, whether the plaintiff was warned that further delay could result in dismissal, possible prejudice to the defendants, whether the plaintiff received a fair opportunity to be heard, and whether a lesser sanction would be effective.

The court found that all five factors supported dismissal. Rios’s failure to act lasted more than a year, including nearly six months after the court’s warning. The court presumed that further delay would prejudice the defendants. It also concluded that the warning protected Rios’s opportunity to be heard and that lesser sanctions would be ineffective because Rios had not responded to the court’s order.

Disposition

The court dismissed the action for failure to prosecute. The clerk was directed to terminate any pending motions and close the case. The opinion did not decide the underlying Fair Labor Standards Act claims.