Laurice El Badry Rahme Ltd v. MoBetter Deals LLC

Background

Laurice El Badry Rahme Ltd. brought this action against MoBetter Deals LLC and MoBetter Enterprise & Investment LLC. Aikido C. Graves-Bey, identified in the filing as the chief executive officer of both defendants, filed a motion to stay the action. The plaintiff’s response stated that Graves-Bey was not a party or an attorney and that the defendants’ attorney had stopped representing them. The motion also referred to and attached communications from settlement negotiations.

Plaintiff’s position

The plaintiff argued that the stay motion was procedurally improper because the defendant limited liability companies were attempting to appear without a licensed attorney. It also asked the court to remove the motion from public access because it contained settlement communications covered by Federal Rule of Evidence 408, which generally limits the use of compromise negotiations to prove or disprove the validity or amount of a disputed claim. The plaintiff did not object to extending the defendants’ deadline to respond to the complaint so they could obtain new counsel.

Ruling

Judge Ronnie Abrams denied the motion to stay. Citing Second Circuit authority, the court stated that corporations cannot appear in federal court without counsel and ordered the corporate defendants to obtain counsel by September 16, 2022. The court also gave the defendants until September 30, 2022, to file an answer or otherwise respond to the complaint.

Because the motion contained settlement communications, the court directed the Clerk of Court to restrict access to docket entry 13 so that it could be viewed only by the parties and the court. The court also directed the clerk to terminate the motion pending at that docket entry and to serve the order on the defendants.