Castillo v. El San Juan City Island on 5th Ave LLC
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- 1:21-cv-02824
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Castillo v. El San Juan City Island on 5th Ave LLC, Judge Woods ordered defendants to appear and warned that further nonappearance could lead to default.
The order directly affected defendants Manuel Vidal, Josefina Vidal, and “El San Juan” City Island on 5th Ave LLC by requiring appearances and warning that nonappearance could lead to default. It also affected defense counsel and plaintiffs Mercy Castillo, Jessica Lora, and Ulises Rodriguez by setting the next conference.
What happened
In Castillo v. El San Juan City Island on 5th Ave LLC, the court addressed defendants Manuel Vidal and Josefina Vidal’s failure to attend a scheduled conference after their lawyer withdrew. The court postponed the conference to June 1, 2022, and ordered the defendants to attend in person or through newly retained counsel.
The court warned that if Manuel and Josefina Vidal failed to appear again, it would find them in default, which could lead to a default judgment. The court also ruled that the bankruptcy-related stay for “El San Juan” City Island on 5th Ave LLC was no longer in place because that bankruptcy case had been dismissed. Because a company must appear through a lawyer, the court warned that the company could be considered in default if no lawyer appeared by June 1.
Judge Gregory H. Woods ordered counsel for the corporate defendant to attend the June 1 conference and directed the Clerk of Court to send the order to the defendants by certified mail. The order did not enter a default judgment or decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Castillo v. El San Juan City Island on 5th Ave LLC · No. 1:21-cv-02824
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- May 20, 2022
Background
The court had held an April 13, 2022 hearing concerning defense counsel’s request to withdraw from representing Manuel Vidal and Josefina Vidal. The defendants were ordered to attend that hearing but did not initially appear; the court contacted Manuel Vidal by telephone, and he participated that way. The court granted counsel’s request to withdraw and stayed proceedings for 30 days. It then scheduled a May 16 conference and ordered the defendants to appear in person or through newly retained counsel. Neither defendant nor newly retained counsel appeared at that conference.
Order concerning the individual defendants
The court adjourned the conference to June 1, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., in Courtroom 12C of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in New York. Manuel Vidal and Josefina Vidal were again ordered to appear in person or through newly retained counsel. The court stated that if they failed to appear for a third time, it would find them in default, which could result in a default judgment. A default judgment is a judgment that may be entered after a party fails to defend the case, but the court did not enter one in this order.
Corporate defendant and bankruptcy stay
The court had previously noted that proceedings against “El San Juan” City Island on 5th Ave LLC were automatically stayed because the defendants believed the company was involved in a pending bankruptcy case. The court found that the bankruptcy proceeding had been dismissed and that the automatic stay therefore was no longer in place. The court explained that a corporation must appear through an attorney. It ordered counsel for the corporate defendant to attend the June 1 conference and stated that, if no attorney appeared for the company by that date, the court would consider the company to be in default.
Disposition
The court did not decide the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims and did not enter default judgment. It adjourned the conference, ordered the individual defendants and corporate defendant’s counsel to appear as specified, warned of possible default, and directed the Clerk of Court to send the order to the defendants by certified mail.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.