Northwest Administrators Inc v. HW Maintenance Lax LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 10 NORTHWEST CASE NO. C20-0594JLR ADMINISTRATORS, INC., 11 ORDER OF DEFAULT Plaintiff, 12 v. HW MAINTENANCE LAX, LLC, Defendant.

This matter comes before the court on the court’s June 26, 2020 order to show cause. (See 6/26/20 Order (Dkt. # 7).) In that order, the court noted that Defendant HW Maintenance LAX, LLC (“HW Maintenance”) filed an answer to Plaintiff Northwest Administrators, Inc.’s complaint signed by Jose D. Gutierrez. (See id. at 1-2 (citing Ans. (Dkt. # 6) at 4).) However, the answer and Mr. Gutierrez’s signature block fail to indicate whether Mr. Gutierrez is proceeding pro se or whether he is appearing as counsel on behalf of HW Maintenance. (See Ans. at 4.) As the court noted, if Mr. Gutierrez is an attorney, the court’s local rules and electronic filing procedures require that he list his bar number, address, phone number, and email address on the signature block. (See 6/26/20 Order at 1-2.) Alternatively, if Mr. Gutierrez is not an attorney, then he cannot represent HW Maintenance pro se, meaning his attempted appearance is improper under the court’s local rules and established Supreme Court precedent. See Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony, 506 U.S. 194, 202 (1993) (“It has been the law for the better part of two centuries . . . that a corporation may appear in federal courts only through licensed counsel . . . . [T]hat rule applies equally to all artificial entities.”); Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 83.2(b)(3) (“A business entity, except a sole proprietorship, must be represented by counsel.”).

10 Accordingly, the court ordered HW Maintenance to “re-file its answer with an appropriate signature block for Mr. Gutierrez if he is an attorney, obtain counsel to represent it in this lawsuit if Mr. Gutierrez is not an attorney, or show cause within 30 days of the filing date of this order why the court should not enter default against HW Maintenance if it remains unrepresented by counsel.” (See 6/26/20 Order at 2-3.) The court warned HW Maintenance and Mr. Gutierrez that failure to respond or show cause would result in default. (See id.) Mr. Gutierrez and HW Maintenance failed to re-file // // // // // // HW Maintenance’s answer, obtain counsel, or show cause within 30 days. (See generally Dkt.) Accordingly, the court DIRECTS the Clerk to enter default against HW Maintenance. See Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 83.2(b)(3) (authorizing the court to enter default against a business entity that fails to obtain counsel).

5 Dated this 20th day of November, 2020.

A 8 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge