Hong v. Mommy's Jamaican Market Corp.
- Lewis Liman
- 1:20-cv-09612
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Hong v. Mommy’s Jamaican Market Corp., Judge Liman allowed defense counsel to withdraw, substituted counsel for two defendants, and set briefing deadlines.
Peter Lee, Kap Won Kim, Myong Su Kim, Dae Kyu Kim, Mommy’s Jamaican Market Corp., and Sun Yeul Hong were affected by the counsel changes, withdrawn filings, warning about corporate representation, and briefing deadlines.
What happened
In Hong v. Mommy’s Jamaican Market Corp., attorney Peter Lee asked to withdraw from representing the defendants, stating that he and his clients had differing interests. The court held a hearing on the request.
The court also addressed the defendants’ sanctions motion and papers opposing Sun Yeul Hong’s request for attorneys’ fees and related amounts. At the request of Kap Won Kim and Myong Su Kim, the sanctions motion and those opposition papers were deemed withdrawn. The corporation was told to retain a lawyer or risk a default judgment because corporations cannot appear in court without counsel.
Judge Lewis J. Liman granted Lee’s withdrawal request, substituted Joseph Barbiere and Leo V. Leyva as counsel for Kap Won Kim and Myong Su Kim, extended the defendants’ response deadline to March 8, 2024, and set additional deadlines for a costs motion and Hong’s reply.
The detailed version
- Hong v. Mommy's Jamaican Market Corp. · No. 1:20-cv-09612
- Lewis Liman
- Feb. 27, 2024
Background
The court held a hearing on Peter Lee’s motion to withdraw as counsel for the defendants. Lee represented that he and the defendants had “differing interests” and confirmed that position at the hearing.
Rulings on Counsel
The court granted Lee’s application under Southern District of New York Local Rule 1.4, which requires court permission for an attorney to withdraw and a showing of satisfactory reasons. The court also determined that the differing interests supported withdrawal under New York professional-conduct rules. Joseph Barbiere and Leo V. Leyva of Cole Schotz P.C. were substituted as counsel for Kap Won Kim and Myong Su Kim.
The court advised Mommy’s Jamaican Market Corp. that a corporation may appear in court only through an attorney. It therefore advised the corporation to retain counsel or risk entry of a default judgment.
Other Motions and Deadlines
At the request of Kap Won Kim and Myong Su Kim, the defendants’ sanctions motion was deemed withdrawn. All papers filed by Lee opposing Sun Yeul Hong’s motion for attorneys’ fees, liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, post-judgment interest, and the statutory increase under New York Labor Law § 198(4) were also deemed withdrawn.
The court extended the defendants’ time to respond to Hong’s motion until March 8, 2024. It required the defendants to file any motion for costs on behalf of Dae Kyu Kim by March 8, 2024, and required Hong to file a reply brief by March 15, 2024. The order did not decide the underlying request for fees or the merits of the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.