Sygall v. Pitsicalis

USDC SDNY UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DOCUMENT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ELECTRONICALLY FILED . □□□ nnn □□□ KX DOC #: DATE FILED: 2/10/2020 DAVID SYGALL, : Plaintiff, : : 18-CV-2730 (VSB) - against - : : ORDER ANDREW PITSICALIS, an individual; : LEON HENDRIX, an individual; : PURPLE HAZE PROPERTIES, LLC, a : Nevada Limited Liability Company; : ROCKIN ARTWORK, LLC, a Nevada : Limited Liability Company; ANGOTTI : DESIGNS, LLC, an Indiana Limited : Liability Company; a California Limited : Liability Company; GRASSROOTS : CLOTHING, LLC, a Colorado Limited : Liability Company; and KURT S. : ADLER, INC., a New York Corporation, : Defendants. : VERNON S. BRODERICK, United States District Judge: On November 15, 2019, I issued an Order granting Thomas T. Osinski’s motion to withdraw as counsel for the Defendants. (Doc. 57). In that Order I directed the Defendants to obtain counsel and appear before this court within 60 days, or risk default. The order also explained that “[a]lthough individual defendants can appear pro se, corporate defendants cannot.” (d.) I also directed the parties to appear for a status conference on February 7, 2020.

On February 7, 2020, I held a status conference at which Plaintiff appeared and no Defendants appeared. At the conference, Plaintiff moved to strike Defendant Hendrix’s Answer for failure to appear and comply with my Order of November 25, 2019. Under Federal Rule of Civil procedure 37(b)(2)(A), “[i]f a party . . . fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery ... the court where the action is pending may issue further just orders.” This rule permits me to strike a pleading of a non-appearing Defendant. RLI Ins. Co. v. May Constr. Co. Inc., No. 9 Civ. 7415(PKC), 2011 WL 1197937, *2 (S.D.N.Y. 2011). For the reasons stated on the record, it is: ORDERED that the Answer filed by Defendant Leon Hendrix (Doc. 37) is stricken from the record for failure to appear at the conference held on February 7, 2020.

SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 10, 2020 f sc New York, New York if Vernon S. Broderick United States District Judge