1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 JOHN NEWMAN, Case No. 4:25-cv-01105-KAW

8 Plaintiff, ORDER STRIKING STATEMENT OF JURACI MACENO FILHO 9 v. Re: Dkt. No. 8 10 MACENO PIZZA LLC, 11 Defendant.

12 13 On February 3, 2025, Plaintiff John Newman filed this lawsuit against Maceno Pizza LLC 14 (dba Monza Pizzeria). (Compl., Dkt. No. 1.) 15 On February 18, 2025, Juraci Maceno Filho, owner of Defendant Maceno Pizza LLC, filed 16 a statement in which he denied the allegations in the complaint. (Dkt. No. 8.) 17 Defendant, however, is an LLC, and corporations may only appear in court through an 18 attorney. See Rowland v. Cal. Men's Colony,

(1993). Mr. Filho is not 19 licensed to practice in California nor is he admitted to practice in this district. Thus, to the extent 20 that Mr. Filho’s statement could be construed as an answer to the complaint, the Court strikes his 21 statement under its inherent powers. See United States v. High Country Broad. Co.,

, 22 1245 (9th Cir. 1993) (“perfectly appropriate” for district court to strike answer and enter default 23 judgment against corporation when it failed to retain counsel); TeleVideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 24

(9th Cir. 1987) (determining that striking an answer and entering default 25 judgment are within a court’s inherent powers); see also Coastal Env't Rts. Found. v. Aztec Perlite 26 Co., Inc., No. 24-cv-385-RSH-SBC,

, at *3 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 16, 2024) (struck 27 answer and entered default sua sponte under court’s inherent powers). 1 action, and that the failure to timely respond to the complaint by March 18, 2025 may ultimately 2 || result in default judgment being entered against Defendant Maceno Pizza LLC. (See Summons 3 Returned Executed, Dkt. No. 9.) 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 Dated: March 4, 2025 . 6 Kens A. dada 7 United States Magistrate Judge 8 9 10 11 12

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