Opinion
2:24-cv-00239-GMN-EJY
02-20-2024
WILLIAM A. BATCHELOR, JR., Plaintiff, v. YORK HOLDING, LTD., CHANGQING LIU; RAYFORD INTERNATIONAL INC.; FREDRICK WAID; GREENLAKE REAL ESTATE FUND LLC; DOE INDIVIDUALS 1-X; and ROE CORPORATIONS I-X, inclusive, Defendants.
ORDER
ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Pending before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion for Order Extending Time. ECF No. 20. Plaintiff explains that counsel for Defendant Changqing Liu (“Liu”) refuses to accept service of the Complaint (id. at 1) necessitating Plaintiff's service on Liu, who resides in China, under Hague Convention protocols that typically take six to nine months to accomplish. Id. Plaintiff further explains that he attempted to effect service on Greenlake Real Estate Fund LLC (“Greenlake”) through counsel; however, service before the deadline did not occur as removal to federal court shortened the time to do so. Id. at 1, 3. Plaintiff requests an extension of time until March 1, 2024 to serve Greenlake, and until November 20, 2024 to serve Liu. Id. at 3.
I. Discussion
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) states that if a plaintiff shows “good cause” for failure to timely serve defendants “the court must extend the time for service for an appropriate period.” “Generally, good cause is equated with diligence.” Elliott v. Williams, Case No. 2:19-CV-00383-GMN-BNW, 2021 WL 1612295, at *2 (D. Nev. Apr. 23, 2021). Here, Plaintiff has diligently attempted to contact Defendants' counsel to effect service, though such attempts were unsuccessful. The short extension to serve Greenlake is supported by good cause as is the extension to serve Liu under the Hague Convention.
II. Order
Accordingly, and based on the foregoing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for Order Extending Time (ECF No. 20) is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that service on Greenlake Real Estate Fund LLC must occur no later than March 1, 2024.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that service on Changqing Liu under the Hague Convention must occur, if possible, no later than November 20, 2024.