Liquid Events Worldwide v. Hosteling International
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-02478
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Liquid Events Worldwide v. Hosteling International was dismissed without prejudice by Judge Swain because a filing bar was not followed.
Liquid Events Worldwide and Sean Matthew Finnegan; the action was dismissed without prejudice, and fee-free status for an appeal was denied.
What happened
In Liquid Events Worldwide v. Hosteling International, the plaintiff filed the action without a lawyer and asked to avoid paying the filing fee. The court understood the plaintiff to be a company owned by Sean Matthew Finnegan.
The court said Finnegan had previously been barred from filing new actions without paying fees unless he first obtained permission. It ruled that he could not avoid that bar by filing in the company’s name, and noted that a company cannot represent itself in federal court through an unlicensed individual.
Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice because Finnegan did not follow the earlier order. The court also denied fee-free status for any appeal and warned that further frivolous or harassing litigation could lead to additional sanctions.
The detailed version
- Liquid Events Worldwide v. Hosteling International · No. 1:22-cv-02478
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 11, 2022
Background
Liquid Events Worldwide filed this action without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee. Based on earlier filings, the court understood Liquid Events Worldwide to be a corporate entity owned by Sean Matthew Finnegan.
On February 7, 2022, Finnegan had been barred from filing any new action without paying the filing fee unless he first obtained permission from the court. Judge Swain stated that Finnegan could not circumvent that order by filing an action in the corporation’s name and that he had not sought permission to file this action.
Corporation’s Representation
The court’s footnote explained that, even if Finnegan had sought permission, he could not assert claims for Liquid Events Worldwide because corporations and other artificial entities must appear in federal court through a licensed attorney. The opinion states that Finnegan is not a licensed attorney.
Ruling
The court dismissed the action without prejudice because Finnegan failed to comply with the February 7, 2022 order. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying the filing fee. Judge Swain warned that further frivolous or harassing litigation, or attempts to evade the filing bar, could result in additional sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1651.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.