McDermott v. VIP Connected Entertainment, LLC
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:22-cv-08307
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McDermott v. VIP Connected Entertainment, Judge Broderick ordered the corporation to retain counsel and stayed case deadlines.
VIP Connected Entertainment LLC, which was required to retain counsel, and the parties to the case, whose deadlines were stayed until after November 30, 2022.
What happened
In McDermott v. VIP Connected Entertainment LLC, the court received a letter requesting dismissal and a document presented as the defendant’s answer. The letter said the company had learned about the lawsuit from a law-firm advertisement, not from the plaintiff or his attorney.
The court noted that the summons had been served on the New York Secretary of State, a method permitted by New York law for serving a corporation. It also explained that a corporation cannot represent itself in federal court and must appear through a lawyer.
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered VIP Connected Entertainment LLC to retain counsel and have that lawyer file a notice of appearance by November 30, 2022. He also ordered that all case deadlines remain stayed until after that date.
The detailed version
- McDermott v. VIP Connected Entertainment, LLC · No. 1:22-cv-08307
- Vernon Broderick
- Nov. 1, 2022
Background
On October 21, 2022, the court received a letter addressed to the judge’s chambers. The letter requested dismissal of Matthew McDermott’s complaint against VIP Connected Entertainment LLC and included a document described as the defendant’s answer. The letter stated that the company had not been served by McDermott or his attorney and had instead learned about the lawsuit from a mailing advertising a law firm’s services in a lawsuit against the company.
Service and representation
The record stated that the summons was served on the office of the New York Secretary of State in Albany on October 14, 2022. The court explained that New York law permits service on a corporation through certain corporate agents, including the Secretary of State. The court also held that the document labeled as the defendant’s answer could not be treated as an answer because a corporation cannot appear without a lawyer in federal court.
Order
Judge Vernon S. Broderick ordered VIP Connected Entertainment LLC to retain counsel and required the company’s lawyer to file a notice of appearance by November 30, 2022. The court further ordered that all deadlines in the case were stayed until after November 30, 2022. The opinion does not state that the court granted or denied the request to dismiss the complaint.
Effect
The order required the corporate defendant to obtain legal representation before proceeding in the federal case and temporarily paused the case schedule.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.