Opinion
Civil Action No. 06-cv-00540-WYD-BNB.
June 15, 2007
ORDER
Plaintiff and defendants Ruth; Henry; and Renaissance Compounding Pharmacy, LLC, appeared this morning for a status conference pursuant to my minute order [Doc. # 148, filed 6/4/2007]. Defendants Dailey and Metragen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Metragen"), did not appear. The purpose of the status conference was to set a discovery schedule. At the request of the parties, the following schedule was established for the conduct of discovery in anticipation of the hearing on the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction: Discovery Cut-Off: September 18, 2007
(All written discovery must be served so that responses are due on or before the discovery cut-off.)Expert Disclosures:
(a) The parties shall designate all experts and provide opposing counsel with all information specified in Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2) on or before August 1, 2007
(b) The parties shall designate all rebuttal experts and provide opposing counsel with all information specified in Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2) on or before August 27, 2007
Also pending is Defendant Metrogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s Emergency Motion for Enlargement of Time to Obtain Successor Counsel [Doc. # 115, filed 5/8/2007] (the "Motion for Extension"). The Motion for Extension is filed on behalf of MetraGen, a corporation. It is signed by "Henry B. Wynn, pro se, amicus curiae." A corporation must be represented by a lawyer who is a member of the bar of this court, however, and cannot proceed pro se or through a corporate officer or other representative not a lawyer. Flora Const. Co. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 307 F.2d 413, 413-14 (10th Cir. 1962) ("The rule is well established that a corporation can appear in a court of record only by an attorney at law); Reeves v. Queen City Transportation, Inc., 10 F. Supp. 2d 1181, 1188 (D. Colo. 1998) ("It has been the law, for the better part of two centuries, that a corporation may appear in federal court only through a licensed attorney"). MetraGen cannot proceed pro se, nor may Mr. Wynn, who is not a lawyer authorized to practice in this court, represent it.
In addition, the Motion for Extension seeks a 30 day extension of time for MetraGen to retain successor counsel. More than 30 days have elapsed since the motion was filed, and no substitute counsel has entered its appearance. Consequently, I find that the Motion for Extension was interposed for the improper purpose of delay.
The Motion for Extension is therefore STRICKEN.
SO ORDERED.