Nielsen v. J.C. Penny Company, Inc.
- Clarke
- 1:23-cv-05619
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Nielsen v. J.C. Penny Company, Inc., Judge Clarke denied Nielsen’s default-judgment and summary-judgment motions because service was improper and no default certificate existed.
Junious Nielsen’s motions for default judgment and summary judgment were denied. The court found that J.C. Penny Company, Inc. had not been properly served.
What happened
In Junious Nielsen v. J.C. Penny Company, Inc., Junious Nielsen, representing himself, alleged that J.C. Penny Company, Inc. fired him in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act.
A magistrate judge recommended denying Nielsen’s motion for default judgment and motion for summary judgment. Nielsen objected, arguing that he had properly served the defendant. The court determined that the defendant had not been properly served and that the Clerk of Court had not entered a Certificate of Default.
Judge Clarke overruled Nielsen’s objections, adopted the recommendation in full, and denied both motions. The order did not decide whether Nielsen’s firing violated the employment law.
The detailed version
- Nielsen v. J.C. Penny Company, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-05619
- Clarke
- Sept. 29, 2023
Background
Junious Nielsen, proceeding without a lawyer, sued J.C. Penny Company, Inc., alleging that the company fired him in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. The opinion notes that Nielsen filed the complaint against “J.C. Penny Company, Inc.” but presumably intended to sue the department store JCPenney.
The court had referred the case to Magistrate Judge James L. Cott for general pretrial supervision and dispositive motions. Judge Cott recommended denying Nielsen’s motion for default judgment and motion for summary judgment without prejudice to renewal. Nielsen timely objected, arguing that service had been properly completed. The defendant did not file an opposition to the objections.
Court’s Analysis
The district court reviewed the portions of the recommendation to which Nielsen objected without deference. The court overruled the objections and found the recommendation well-reasoned and supported by the facts and law.
The court agreed that a default judgment could not be granted because the Clerk of Court had not entered a Certificate of Default. It also agreed that J.C. Penny Company, Inc. had not been properly served with the summons, complaint, or summary-judgment papers.
Ruling
The court adopted Judge Cott’s Report and Recommendation in its entirety. It denied Nielsen’s motion for default judgment and denied Nielsen’s motion for summary judgment. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the docket entries for those motions, ECF Nos. 12 and 21. The order did not decide the merits of Nielsen’s allegation that his firing violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.