Opinion
23-cv-04561-LJC
07-03-2024
JANE LEE, Plaintiff, v. MCALLISTER OLIVARIUS, Defendant.
ORDER TERMINATING AS MOOT MOTION TO CONTINUE CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE AND ENLARGE TIME TO FILE CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT; DIRECTING PLAINTIFF TO FILE CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT BY AUGUST 1, 2024
Re: ECF No. 18
LISA J. CISNEROS, United States Magistrate Judge
Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Jane Lee's Motion to Continue Case Management Conference and Enlarge Time to File Case Management Statement (Motion). ECF No. 18. Ms. Lee's Motion is dated June 7, 2024. Id. at 2. In the Motion, she requested that the June 13, 2024 Case Management Conference be continued to June 25, 2024, or a date thereafter convenient for the Court, and that the Case Management Statement deadline be extended to seven days before the continued Case Management Conference. Id. However, Ms. Lee mailed her Motion to the undersigned's chambers as a chambers copy. This is not how documents are manually filed in this District under the Civil Local Rules. A party that wishes to manually file documents in a civil case must deliver the documents to the Clerk's Office so that they can be entered and filed on the case docket. See Civ. L.R. 5(e). Because the Motion was not delivered properly to the Clerk's Office, it was not entered and filed on the case docket until July 1, 2024. ECF No. 18. By this point, the Court had already held the June 13, 2024 Case Management Conference, and Ms. Lee did not appear. ECF No. 17. The courtroom deputy tried multiple times to give Ms. Lee a call, but she did not answer, and her voicemail was not available to leave a message. Id. The Court set another Case Management Conference for August 15, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. Id. The Court also indicated that it may issue an order to show cause as to why this case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. Id.
The Motion is hereby TERMINATED as moot. At the prior Case Management Conference, Ms. Lee indicated that she was interested in becoming an e-filer. ECF No. 15. The Court encourages Ms. Lee to follow through with that process. Procedures and instructions for becoming an e-filer and using the Court's ECF system are available at https://cand.uscourts.gov/cases-e-filing/cm-ecf/. Ms. Lee is admonished that if she wishes to continue manually filing documents in this case, she must follow the Civil Local Rules and the proper procedures for manual filing. Ms. Lee is also admonished that she is obligated to appear for all scheduled Court hearings and conferences, even if she has requested a continuance, until the Court rules on the pending request for a continuance.
Finally, the Court is concerned that Ms. Lee has yet to serve Defendant with summons and a copy of the complaint pursuant to Rule 4 of the Federal Rules Civil Procedures, especially since this action has been pending for more than nine months. The Court understands that Defendant is domiciled in the United Kingdom, and that Rule 4 does not set a firm deadline for service on a foreign defendant. Nevertheless, by August 1, 2024, in advance of the August 15, 2024 Case Management Conference, Ms. Lee shall file a Case Management Statement that explains in detail the steps she has taken to serve Defendant and what progress has been made to effectuate service. The Court has not yet issued an order to show cause as to why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute, but it does seek to ensure that Ms. Lee is taking appropriate steps to advance her case.
The Court notes that it previously issued an Order to Show Cause for failure to prosecute on December 11, 2023. ECF No. 9. Ms. Lee filed a response to the Order to Show Cause on December 26, 2023, where she explained that Rule 4(m)'s 90-day deadline did not apply to this case, given Defendant's domicile in Maidenhead, England. ECF No. 10. The Court ordered Ms. Lee to file a Case Management Statement by January 29, 2024 providing an update on her efforts to effectuate service, and it held an Initial Case Management Conference on February 8, 2024 to discuss the issue of service. ECF Nos. 12, 13, 15.
If the Court determines that Ms. Lee is failing to prosecute her case, then it may issue a report and recommendation that the action be dismissed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.