UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MIZE GRANITE QUARRIES INC

Filing 7

ORDER advising Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. that it must retain counsel if it wishes to defend this action and giving Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. twenty-eight days to file an amended Answer. Ordered by US DISTRICT JUDGE CLAY D LAND on 03/08/2017. (CCL)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATHENS DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

*

Plaintiff,

*

vs.

*

MIZE GRANITE QUARRIES, INC.,

*

Defendant.

CASE NO. 3:16-CV-163(CDL)

*
O R D E R

Defendant Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. filed an Answer in
this action, but it was prepared and submitted by Mize Granite
Quarries, Inc.’s president, a non-attorney.

See Answer, ECF No.

3; Letter from Robert W. Mize III to David Bunt (Mar. 7, 2017),
ECF No. 5.

It is well established “that a corporation may

appear in the federal courts only through licensed counsel.”

In

re Strickland & Davis Int’l, Inc., 612 F. App’x 971, 976 (11th
Cir. 2015) (per curiam) (quoting Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony,
Unit II Men’s Advisory Council, 506 U.S. 194, 201–02 (1993)).
Therefore,

Mize

Granite

Quarries,

Inc.’s

president

may

not

represent Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. in this action, and the
corporation must have an attorney.

The courts generally advise

a corporation of the need for proper representation and afford
the corporation an opportunity to obtain counsel before taking

an action like striking the answer due to lack of counsel.

Id.

(collecting cases).
Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. is advised that it must retain
counsel if it wishes to defend this action.

Within twenty-eight

days of the date of this Order, Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. may
file an amended Answer.

The amended Answer must be prepared and

submitted by an attorney.

If Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. does

not timely file an amended Answer prepared and submitted by an
attorney, the Court will strike Mize Granite Quarries, Inc.’s
Answer

and

enter

a

default

judgment

against

Mize

Granite

Quarries, Inc.
IT IS SO ORDERED, this 8th day of March, 2017.
S/Clay D. Land
CLAY D. LAND
CHIEF U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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