Castillo v. Z Deli Grocery V Corp
- George Daniels
- 1:21-cv-01744
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Castillo v. Z Deli Grocery V Corp, Judge Willis directed individual defendants to properly appear before seeking relief from a default judgment.
The order directly affected Ali Esmael Ziad and Mohammed Ziad, who were told how to properly appear without lawyers and given a deadline to seek relief from the default judgment. It also affected Z Deli Grocery V Corp, which was required to proceed through an attorney.
What happened
In Castillo v. Z Deli Grocery V Corp, the individual defendants objected to a default judgment that Judge Daniels had entered against all defendants. They pointed to an earlier email to the court’s Pro Se Intake unit, but that email contained JPEG files instead of the required PDF attachments and was not accepted.
The order states that Ali Esmael Ziad and Mohammed Ziad must properly file notices of appearance without a lawyer and update their addresses before taking steps to challenge the default judgment. The court set May 17, 2024, as the deadline for filing a motion to set aside the default. No such motion had been filed when the order was issued.
Judge Jennifer E. Willis also stated that Z Deli Grocery V Corp cannot appear without a lawyer because corporations may not represent themselves. If the individual defendants file a proper motion, the court will consider it after Enrique Castillo has an opportunity to respond, under the applicable federal rules.
The detailed version
- Castillo v. Z Deli Grocery V Corp · No. 1:21-cv-01744
- George Daniels
- Apr. 5, 2024
Background
On February 28, 2024, Judge George Daniels entered a default judgment against Z Deli Grocery V Corp, Ali Esmael Ziad, and Mohammed Ziad. On March 19, 2024, the two individual defendants submitted a letter objecting to that judgment.
The individual defendants’ former lawyer had been permitted to withdraw in January 2023. The earlier order required Ali Esmael Ziad and Mohammed Ziad either to obtain new counsel or to appear without a lawyer by February 3, 2023. It explained that the plaintiff could seek a default judgment if the corporate defendant and the individuals did not appear as required.
The defendants’ letter referred to an email sent to the court’s Pro Se Intake unit. The court confirmed that the unit received the email and sent a standard acknowledgment, but the email contained JPEG files rather than PDF attachments. Because the required filing standard was not met, the materials were not accepted as filed documents.
Order
Judge Willis directed the individual defendants to complete the court’s Notice of Pro Se Appearance form and email it in PDF form to the Pro Se Intake unit. After properly entering an appearance without a lawyer and updating their addresses, they could take steps to seek relief from the default judgment.
The order states that no motion to set aside the default had been filed at that time. It gave the defendants until May 17, 2024, to file such a motion. If they filed one, the court would consider it after Castillo had an opportunity to oppose it, applying Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 55(c) and 60(b), along with the court’s individual and local rules.
Corporate Defendant
The court reiterated that a corporation may not represent itself without a lawyer. Accordingly, Z Deli Grocery V Corp could not proceed without counsel.
Disposition
The order did not set aside or otherwise modify the default judgment. Instead, it explained the steps the individual defendants had to take before seeking that relief, set a filing deadline for any motion to set aside the default, and stated that the corporate defendant could not appear without an attorney. The Clerk was also asked to mail the order to the address listed by the individual defendants.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.