Bisnow LLC v. Lopez-Pierre
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:20-cv-03441-PAE-SLC
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Bisnow v. Lopez-Pierre, Judge Engelmayer dismissed Bisnow’s RICO claim with prejudice, state-law claims without prejudice, and awarded no damages.
Bisnow LLC’s RICO claim was dismissed with prejudice, and its state-law claims for tortious interference and trade libel were dismissed without prejudice. No damages were awarded, and the case was closed. Thomas Lopez-Pierre was the defendant against whom the earlier default judgment as to liability had been entered.
What happened
In Bisnow LLC v. Lopez-Pierre, Bisnow sued Thomas Lopez-Pierre under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and under state law for tortious interference and trade libel. The court had already entered a default judgment establishing liability and sent the case for a decision on damages.
A magistrate judge recommended dismissing the RICO claim with prejudice because Bisnow did not adequately plead a RICO enterprise, dismissing the state-law claims without prejudice because the court declined to hear them alongside the federal claim, and awarding no damages. Neither side objected, so the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error and found none.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer adopted the recommendation in full. The court dismissed the RICO claim with prejudice, dismissed the state-law claims without prejudice, awarded no damages, closed pending motions, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Bisnow LLC v. Lopez-Pierre · No. 1:20-cv-03441-PAE-SLC
- Paul Engelmayer
- Dec. 5, 2022
Background
Bisnow LLC brought claims against Thomas Lopez-Pierre under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal law targeting certain organized unlawful activity, and under state law for tortious interference and trade libel. On September 28, 2020, the court entered a default judgment against Lopez-Pierre as to liability and ordered an inquiry into damages.
The pending matter was a November 2, 2022 report and recommendation by United States Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. The report recommended dismissing the RICO claim with prejudice because Bisnow failed to plead a RICO enterprise, declining supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law claims, dismissing those claims without prejudice, and awarding no damages.
Review of the Report and Recommendation
No party objected to the report. The court therefore reviewed the report for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake on the face of the record. The court found no such error and adopted the report in its entirety. The court also stated that the parties’ failure to object waived appellate review, consistent with the warning in the report.
The opinion notes that the court had denied Bisnow’s counsel’s motion to withdraw without successor counsel because Bisnow, as a corporation, could not represent itself without a lawyer. The court extended the deadline for objections, but no new counsel appeared and no objections were filed.
Disposition
The court dismissed the RICO claim with prejudice. It dismissed the state-law claims without prejudice because it declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over them. The court awarded no damages, directed the clerk to close pending motions, and closed the case.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.