FRENKEL v. WEBSTER et al
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND OPINION. SIGNED BY HONORABLE BERLE M. SCHILLER ON 1/13/15. 1/13/15 ENTERED & E-MAILED. COPIES MAILED TO LABRIE, FITZGERALD ENTERPRISES AT ADDRESSES OF NY AND FL. (fdc)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
LEON FRENKEL,
Plaintiff,
v.
KENNETH H. BAKER, et al.,
Defendants.
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CIVIL ACTION
No. 13-5880
MEMORANDUM
Schiller, J.
January 13, 2015
Defendants Baker Enterprises of Polk County, Inc., The Baker Group, and New Life
Church of Wauchula, Inc. (the “Baker Defendants”) move for relief under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 60(b) from the default judgment entered against them. For the reasons provided
below, the Court denies this motion.
I.
BACKGROUND
Leon Frenkel commenced this action against nearly a dozen defendants in October of
2013, alleging that two overlapping conspiracies defrauded him of $500,000. Very few
Defendants answered or appeared. This Court granted a partial default judgment against most of
the non-answering Defendants on November 4, 2014.
Counsel for the Baker Defendants, Craig Huffman, entered his appearance on September
29, 2014, and this Court granted his application to appear pro hac vice the following day. At that
time, default had already been entered against each of the Baker Defendants, and Plaintiff’s
Application for Default Judgment and Supplemental Memorandum of Law had already been
filed and served. This Court granted the default judgment against the Baker Defendants on
November 4, 2014, more than a month after Mr. Huffman first appeared and nearly four months
after the application had been filed. See Frenkel v. Baker, Civ. A. No. 13-5880, 2014 WL
5697449 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 4, 2014). During that time, Mr. Huffman filed nothing with the Court:
no responsive filings, no cross-claims or counterclaims, no motions, no requests for extensions,
no stipulations, no phone calls, and no letters. According to Plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. Huffman
also made no attempt to communicate with opposing counsel during this time. (Mem. of Law in
Supp. of the Resp. of Pl. Leon Frenkel in Opp. to the Mot. to Set Aside Default [Pl.’s Resp.], at
2.) Instead, Mr. Huffman waited until twenty days after this Court’s entry of default judgment
against his clients to file anything at all. The Baker Defendants blame their tardy participation in
this case on: (1) the constant promises of a codefendant, Omar Fitzgerald, that he was planning
to settle all pertinent debts with Plaintiff, and (2) logistical and financial difficulties in finding,
retaining, and getting their Florida attorney admitted pro hac vice.
II.
LEGAL STANDARD
Rule 60(b)(1) permits the court to relieve a party from a final judgment if that party can
show “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” The purpose of this rule “is to
strike a proper balance between the conflicting principles that litigation must be brought to an
end and that justice must be done.” Boughner v. Sec’y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, 572 F.2d 976,
977 (3d Cir. 1978). “The test for ‘excusable neglect’ is equitable, and requires [the Court] to
weigh the ‘totality of the circumstances.’” Nara v. Frank, 488 F.3d 187, 193-94 (3d Cir. 2007).
The Court specifically must consider the following four factors: “(1) the danger of prejudice to
the other party; (2) the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial proceedings; (3)
the reason for the delay—and whether it was within the movant’s control; and (4) whether the
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movant acted in good faith.” Id. at 194 (citing Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick Assocs. Ltd.
P’ship, 507 U.S. 380, 395 (1993)); see also In re Cendant Corp. PRIDES Litig., 235 F.3d 176,
182 (3d Cir. 2000) (stating that consideration of the four Pioneer factors is mandatory). Parties
may be penalized for the actions and omissions of their attorneys under this standard. Pioneer
Inv. Servs. Co., 507 U.S. at 396. 1
III.
DISCUSSION
Because the situation plainly does not qualify as mistake, inadvertence, or surprise under
Rule 60(b)(1), the Court considers the Pioneer factors for excusable neglect. The Court
concludes that the Baker Defendants have not shown excusable neglect and therefore do not
qualify for relief under Rule 60(b)(1).
A.
Danger of Prejudice to Plaintiff
The first factor is the danger of prejudice to the non-moving party, in this case Frenkel, if
the Court were to grant relief under Rule 60(b). Frenkel has expended considerable time and
resources on this case—largely without the benefit of a response of any kind from any of the
Baker Defendants—and he would have to expend more time and resources if the Court were to
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As noted by the Baker Defendants, the Third Circuit additionally requires this Court to consider
the following factors in determining whether to grant a Rule 60(b) motion for relief: “(1) whether
the plaintiff will be prejudiced; (2) whether the defendant has a meritorious defense; [and] (3)
whether the default was the result of the defendant’s culpable conduct.” United States v.
$55,518.05 in U.S. Currency, 728 F.2d 192, 195 (3d Cir. 1984). In that case, the threshold issue
was that the defendant had not established a meritorious defense. Id. at 196-97.
In this case, the Court does not reach the $55,518.05 in U.S. Currency factors because the
dispositive issue is whether the Baker Defendants have satisfied the text of Rule 60(b)(1) at all—
namely, whether they have proven the “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect”
necessary for relief. Although it was their burden, the Baker Defendants have not submitted an
argument on this point, or on the Pioneer factors listed above. The caselaw is not completely
clear on how the Pioneer factors fit with the $55,518.05 in U.S. Currency factors, but $55,518.05
in U.S. Currency significantly predates Pioneer. As the Pioneer factors are also dispositive here,
the Court considers only those factors in depth.
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reopen the case. However, “[d]elay in realizing satisfaction on a claim rarely serves to establish
the degree of prejudice sufficient to prevent the opening [of] a default judgment entered at an
early stage of the proceeding.” Feliciano v. Reliant Tooling Co., Ltd., 691 F.2d 653, 656-57 (3d
Cir. 1982). It is also possible that this Court could ameliorate any risk of prejudice through the
“power under Rule 60(b) to impose terms and conditions upon the opening of a judgment.” Id. at
657. Thus, this factor weighs in favor of granting relief under Rule 60(b).
B.
Length of Delay and Impact on Judicial Proceedings
At a minimum, the Baker Defendants have been aware of this lawsuit since Defendant
Baker—the undisputed individual who controls the Baker Defendants—filed his pro se Answer
on June 20, 2014. Frenkel’s motion for default judgment was filed on July 11, 2014, with a
supplemental memorandum filed on July 30, 2014. The Baker Defendants have been represented
by counsel in this matter since September 30, 2014. This Court entered default judgment against
the Baker Defendants on November 4, 2014. The Baker Defendants filed their motion for relief
under Rule 60(b) on November 24, 2014.
The length of the delay must first be considered in “absolute terms.” In re Cendant Corp.,
235 F.3d at 183. In this case, the absolute length of the delay does not weigh heavily on one side
or the other. The delay between the entry of judgment and the motion for relief is only twenty
days. The delay between the appearance of Mr. Huffman and the entry of judgment is slightly
greater—over a month. Accepting without examination the Baker Defendants’ excuses that the
delay prior to Mr. Huffman’s admission in this matter occurred because of financial and other
logistical difficulties, 2 this month is the key period for this motion. In absolute terms, one month
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This Court also notes that a conservative estimate of the time during which the Baker
Defendants knew about the case and filed nothing with this Court was nearly five months.
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can be called insignificant under some precedent, id. at 183, and highly significant under others,
Nara, 488 F.3d at 194.
Under the second Pioneer factor, the important inquiry in this case is therefore the impact
of that months’ delay on the judicial proceedings. Had Mr. Huffman done anything at all in that
month, even made a simple request for an extension of time, this Court would not have entered a
default judgment against the Baker Defendants. For example, this Court did not enter default
judgment against Defendant Kenneth Baker for the simple reason that he had filed an Answer to
the First Amended Complaint, however untimely. The impact on these proceedings of the Baker
Defendants’ delay in communicating anything to the Court, therefore, was great.
C.
Reason for Delay Within Defendants’ Control
The Baker Defendants claim that they defaulted because of (a) the actions and
representations of one of their codefendants, Omar Fitzgerald, and (b) logistical difficulties in
getting their attorney, a member of the Florida bar, admitted pro hac vice with appropriate
malpractice insurance. The Baker Defendants do not deny that they had knowledge of the case
throughout the litigation. The Court finds that the Baker Defendants’ delay was entirely within
their control.
The Baker Defendants claim that Fitzgerald made many representations to them that he
was in the process of settling Plaintiff’s claims, on the condition that Fitzgerald not “be included
as any at fault parties in any documents filed with the Court if settlement were to occur,” and that
this deterred the Baker Defendants from answering the First Amended Complaint. (Mot. for
Relief at 5-7.)
Although the Baker Defendants could not control Fitzgerald’s conduct, they did control
their own conduct in response to it. The decision to do nothing at all in response to the First
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Amended Complaint, served on the Baker Defendants in April and May of 2014, kept the Court
in the dark as to the status of the Baker Defendants. Moreover, the Baker Defendants have not
submitted any evidence regarding their attempts to find and retain an attorney, or their efforts to
find local counsel and insurance for Mr. Huffman’s pro hac vice admission. It appears from the
60(b) motion that the main reason for the extensive delay between receiving the First Amended
Complaint and finally communicating with this Court—in the form of the 60(b) motion itself—
was not any logistical or financial barrier, but the decision to trust that Fitzgerald would
magically make the case disappear. Misplaced trust in a codefendant is not a reason to ignore
formal court proceedings. The logistical challenges of having an out-of-state attorney admitted
pro hac vice likewise do not excuse the Baker Defendants’ failure to file anything until more
than a month after this Court granted Mr. Huffman pro hac vice status.
This factor weighs heavily against the Baker Defendants’ request for relief. See, e.g.,
Nara, 488 F.3d at 194 (finding an unexplained failure to respond to a district court’s order for
seventeen days, and failure to object to the related magistrate’s report and recommendation for
over six weeks, inexcusable negligence in a Rule 60(b) context).
D.
Defendants’ Good Faith
The Third Circuit has described “good faith” as acting “with reasonable haste to
investigate the problem and to take available steps toward a remedy.” In re Cendant Corp., 235
F.3d at 184. At the time Mr. Huffman was admitted pro hac vice, he should have been able to see
the entire electronic docket in this case. Further, his clients were properly served with every
document Frenkel filed up until that point, from the First Amended Complaint to the Application
for Default and Supplemental Memorandum of Law. When Mr. Huffman finally appeared, the
axe was already hanging over his clients. Any reasonably attentive attorney should have
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understood the need to act quickly in that situation. Although Mr. Huffman may not have acted
in bad faith, he also did not act in good faith.
E.
Totality of the Circumstances
Altogether, the Court finds that the Baker Defendants have not shown “excusable
neglect” sufficient to qualify for relief under Rule 60(b)(1). The delay in the Baker Defendants’
participation in the litigation of this case was not negligible; it was almost entirely within the
Defendants’ control; and—not surprisingly—it had an impact on these judicial proceedings. The
Baker Defendants did not act in good faith. As in Nara, these Defendants’ “overall negligence in
handling the matter” persuades the Court to deny their motion for relief. 488 F.3d at 194.
IV.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies the Baker Defendants’ motion for relief under
Rule 60(b). An Order consistent with this Memorandum will be docketed separately.
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