Prussin et al v. Bekins Van Lines, LLC et al

Filing 71

ORDER by Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd granting 63 plaintiffs' motion for order striking defendant's answer and entering default. Attorney Gregg Garfinkel to file proof of service as to this order. (hrllc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/16/2015)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN JOSE DIVISION United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 JEFFREY A. PRUSSIN and JUDY M. PRUSSIN, 13 Plaintiffs, 14 v. 17 18 ORDER STRIKING DEFENDANT'S ANSWER AND ENTERING DEFAULT Re: Dkt. No. 63 15 16 Case No. 5:13-cv-02874-HRL BEKINS VAN LINES, LLC, Defendant. This court previously directed defendant Bekins Van Lines LLC (Bekins) to show cause, 19 no later than August 21, 2015, why its answer should not be stricken and its default entered for 20 failure to participate in discovery and this litigation. (Dkt. 67). Although the docket indicates that 21 the court’s order to show cause was served on defendant (Dkt. 68), this court has received no 22 response. Additionally, plaintiffs advise that they have not been contacted by Bekins. (Dkt. 70). 23 24 25 26 27 28 Accordingly, for these reasons and for all the reasons stated in the court’s show cause order, Bekins’ answer (Dkt. 6) is hereby stricken from the record, and default is entered against 1 Bekins.1 Gregg Garfinkel, who remains on this docket solely for forwarding purposes, shall 2 3 promptly file a proof of service on Bekins as to this order. SO ORDERED. 4 5 Dated: December 16, 2015 ________________________ HOWARD R. LLOYD United States Magistrate Judge 6 7 8 9 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 Although not the specific basis for plaintiffs’ present request for terminating sanctions, the court notes that in its order conditionally permitting Bekins’ former counsel of record to withdraw from this matter, Bekins was warned that it could not appear pro se or through its corporate officers; that it was required to obtain new counsel; and that the failure to retain a new attorney could lead to an order striking its pleadings or to the entry of its default. (Dkt. 55). Bekins’ former attorney avers that he also gave similar warnings to Bekins prior to withdrawing from the case. (Dkt. 52). To date, Bekins has never appeared through other counsel. 2 1 5:13-cv-02874-HRL Notice has been electronically mailed to: 2 Allen Gabriel Haroutounian 3 Frank Xavier Dipolito 4 Gavin E Kogan 5 Gregg S. Garfinkel 6 Ross Ian Landau aharoutounian@nemecek-cole.com fdipolito@swaindipolito.com, swaindipolito@lawyer.com gavin@lg-attorneys.com ggarfinkel@nemecek-cole.com rlandau@swaindipolito.com 7 8 9 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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