Johnson v. Patel

Filing 38

ORDER signed by District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on 5/1/17: The court ORDERS Mr. Welch to file a status report identifying his proposed next steps within thirty (30) days of this order. (Kaminski, H)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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SCOTT JOHNSON,

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No. 2:14-cv-2052-KJM-DB

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

MIKE PATEL, et al.,
Defendants.

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The parties scheduled a settlement conference before the assigned magistrate

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judge. The magistrate judge vacated the settlement conference and referred the case back to the

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undersigned for further direction after defense counsel, Michael Welch, repeatedly disregarded

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court orders to file a settlement conference statement. See ECF Nos. 30–32, 34. The magistrate

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judge also sanctioned Mr. Welch for his noncompliance. ECF No. 32. On April 6, 2017, the

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undersigned issued an order to show cause why the court should not strike defendants’ answer

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and enter default against defendants for failure to prosecute. ECF No. 35. Mr. Welch responded

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with a declaration, stating he has not been able to contact his clients for almost a year and

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requesting another thirty days to attempt to find them. ECF No. 36 ¶ 4.

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Mr. Welch’s response is inadequate. Mr. Welch admits he has had no contact with
any of his clients for almost a year, yet he never attempted to inform the court of this fact
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previously. He continually ignored the magistrate judge’s orders and now, belatedly, offers no

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reason, let alone “good cause,” for his recurrent noncompliance. See ECF No. 36. He has not

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provided a basis for discharging the order to show cause although the court defers a decision on

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discharge pending Mr. Welch’s response to this order.

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Because Mr. Welch has now reestablished communication with the court, the court

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postpones entry of default and grants his request for more time to locate his clients. The court

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ORDERS Mr. Welch to file a status report identifying his proposed next steps within thirty (30)

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days of this order. Failure to do so will result in imposition of a $250 sanction.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: May 1, 2017.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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