Lopez, Samuel v. TRH Trading Corp.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK SAMUEL LOPEZ, Plaintiff, 24 Civ. 02423 (PAE) (SN) ~ : ORDER TRH TRADING CORP. and REGINA’S GROCERY LLC, Defendants.

PAUL A. ENGELMAYER, District Judge: On March 29, 2024, plaintiff Samuel Lopez filed the complaint in this case. Dkt. 1. On April 16, 2024, plamtiff served the defendants, TRH Trading Corp. and Regina’s Grocery LLC, with process. Dkts. 8-9.

Defendants have not responded to the complaint or appeared in this action. On May 28, 2024, plaintiff obtained certificates of default from the Clerk of Court as to each defendant.

Dkts. 19-20. On July 28, 2024, plaintiff moved for default judgment against defendants. Dkts.

22-24, By order dated July 30, 2024, the Court directed that, if defendants wish to oppose the motion for default judgment, defendants’ counsel enter a notice of appearance prior to August 20, 2024, and file an opposition on ECF, explaining why a default judgment is not warranted, by August 20, 2024. Dkt. 25.

On August 20, 2024, plaintiff notified the Court that the parties were “engaged in settlement discussions,” and represented that plaintiff “would prefer to resolve the matter with the defendants before moving forward with the” motion for default judgment. Dkt. 27. As such, plaintiff sought a 10-day extension of defendants’ deadline to oppose the motion for default judgment, to August 30, 2024, id., which the Court granted, Dkt. 28. That deadline has passed.

In view of plaintiffs representations to the Court, see Dkt. 27, the Court directs plaintiff to file a status update on the docket of this case by September 25, 2024. The status update should address (1) the status of settlement negotiations; (2) whether the motion for default judgment should be dismissed, or in the alternative, whether the motion for default judgment should be held in abeyance, to a date certain, pending settlement negotiations; and (3) to the extent plaintiff seeks dismissal of his motion for default judgment, why this case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b), see Lyell Theatre Corp. v. Loews Corp., 682 F.2d 37, 42 Qd Cir. 1982).

SO ORDERED.

Paul A. Engelmayer United States District Judge Dated: September 18, 2024 New York, New York