Cawthon v. Zeng
- John Cronan
- 1:22-cv-02895
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Cawthon v. Zeng, Judge Cronan directed the plaintiff to address whether default-judgment proceedings should pause during a related appeal.
Scott Cawthon was directed to inform the court whether he believed the default-judgment proceedings should be stayed. The order concerned proceedings against Jinsheng Zeng, who the opinion states resides in China.
What happened
In Cawthon v. Zeng, the court addressed a procedural issue involving service by email on a defendant residing in China. The validity of that type of service was pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a related case.
The court directed the plaintiff to tell the court by December 9, 2022 whether proceedings seeking a default judgment should be stayed, or paused, until the Second Circuit ruled. The order did not itself stay the proceedings or decide whether email service was valid.
Judge John P. Cronan issued the order on December 8, 2022. The order did not grant or deny a motion, enter judgment, or resolve the underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- Cawthon v. Zeng · No. 1:22-cv-02895
- John Cronan
- Dec. 8, 2022
Background
The opinion concerns whether default-judgment proceedings should be paused while the Second Circuit considers the validity of serving by email a defendant residing in China. The court identified a related interlocutory appeal concerning that service issue.
Court’s Order
The court directed Plaintiff Scott Cawthon to inform the court by December 9, 2022 of his position on whether the default-judgment proceedings in this case should be stayed pending the Second Circuit’s decision in the related appeal. The order did not decide whether service by email was valid and did not itself stay the default-judgment proceedings.
Disposition
The court issued a procedural directive and did not grant or deny a motion, dismiss the case, or enter default judgment.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.