Bacote Jr v. Federal Bureau of Prisons et al

Filing 50

MINUTE ORDER Denying Without Prejudice 46 Motion for Default Judgment by Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix on 3/6/14.(lag)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 13-cv-02589-REB-KLM
MICHAEL BACOTE JR,
Plaintiff,
v.
WARDEN D. BERKEBILE,
J. COULTER (Psychology),
GREEN, Education Department Specialist,
A.W. WARDEN (Overseas Psychology Department),
D. KRIST (SIA),
CAPTAIN R. KRIST,
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER A. BALSICK, and
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER G. SANDUSKY,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________
MINUTE ORDER
______________________________________________________________________
ENTERED BY MAGISTRATE JUDGE KRISTEN L. MIX
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment Rule 55
of the F.R. of Civil Procedure [#46]1 (the “Motion”). No response has been filed. In his
Motion, Plaintiff asks the Court to enter a default judgment against Defendants pursuant
to Fed. R. Civ. P. 55. Motion [#46] at 1-2.
“[Federal] Rule [of Civil Procedure] 55 mandates a two-step process for a party who
seeks a default judgment in his favor.” Williams v. Smithson, 57 F.3d 1081, at *1 (10th Cir.
June 20, 1995) (unpublished table decision); U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Com’n v.
Trimble, Civil Action No. 11-cv-02887-PAB-KMT, 2013 WL 317576, at *1 (D. Colo. Jan. 28,
2013). First, the party seeking a default judgment must request an entry of default from the
Clerk of the Court under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a). Id. After default has been entered by the
Clerk, the party may seek default judgment pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b). Id. Here,
Plaintiff has not sought entry of default pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a). Further, in

1

“[#46]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to
a specific paper by the Court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I
use this convention throughout this Minute Order.

1

response to the Motion, the Clerk of the Court entered a note stating that the Motion does
not include the date service was complete and that the time for Defendants to respond to
the Complaint has not expired. See generally Clerk’s Note Regarding Default [#49].
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion [#46] is DENIED without prejudice.
Dated: March 6, 2014

2