Evans v. Samaritan Daytop Village

Background

Jeniere K. Evans, proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law allowing certain civil-rights claims against state actors. Evans asserted claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, harassment, and emotional distress. Evans requested a default judgment against Samaritan Daytop Village, Inc., arguing that the defendant filed its answer ten days late.

Samaritan Daytop Village opposed the request. It argued that its delay was not intentional, that it had defenses with potential merit, and that Evans could not show prejudice from the ten-day delay.

Report and Recommendation

Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses construed Evans’s affidavit as a motion for entry of default judgment. She recommended denying the motion because the defendant’s error was, at worst, careless; was corrected before Evans sought default; and caused no identifiable prejudice.

Because default judgment is a dispositive matter, Judge Cronan treated Judge Moses’s recommendation as a Report and Recommendation. The parties were given fourteen days to file objections and were warned that failing to object on time would waive objections for purposes of appeal. No objections were filed before the deadline.

Court’s Ruling

Judge Cronan stated that, despite the waiver, he conducted a fresh review of the Report and Recommendation and found it well reasoned and supported. He adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety and denied Evans’s motion for entry of a default judgment against Samaritan Daytop Village, Inc. The ruling concerned only the request for default judgment and did not decide the underlying claims.

The Clerk of Court was directed to mail a copy of the order to Evans and note service on the docket.