Bizarre Academia, LLC v. Wolf

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: March 25, 2025
• Docket: 4:24-cv-03058
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 BIZARRE ACADEMIA, LLC, Case No. 24-cv-03058-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT 9 v. Re: Dkt. No. 28 10 NOAH WOLF, 11 Defendant.

12 13 Plaintiff Bizarre Academia, LLC, filed its complaint against Defendant Noah Wolf in June 14 2024. Dkt. No. 1. In October 2024, Plaintiffs completed international service of the complaint via 15 the Hague Convention on Defendant at his address in Germany. See Dkt. No. 22. After 16 Defendant failed to respond by the deadline, Plaintiff requested entry of default on February 21, 17 2025. Dkt. No. 25. The Clerk entered default as to Defendant on February 27, 2025. Dkt. No. 26. 18 The next day, February 28, 2025, the Court received Defendant’s answer to the complaint, which 19 Defendant had sent via mail on February 25, 2025, two days before the entry of default. See Dkt 20 No. 27-1 at 1. 21 Defendant now moves to set aside the entry of default. Dkt. No. 28. Defendant maintains 22 that he had taken steps to respond to the complaint prior to default being entered against him, 23 including mailing his answer prior to the entry of default and notifying Plaintiff’s counsel of his 24 efforts. See id. at 1. Further, Defendant argues that he has a meritorious defense, and that setting 25 aside default would not prejudice Plaintiff given the early stage of the case, and that Plaintiff has 26 not filed a motion for default judgment. See id. at 2. After the Court directed Plaintiff to respond, 27 Plaintiff filed a statement confirming that it “seeks to find resolution of the case on its merits” and 1 The Court has discretion to set aside a default or a default judgment. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 2 55(c), 60(b); Brandt v. Am. Bankers Ins. of Florida, 653 F.3d 1108, 1111-12 (9th Cir. 2011). 3 || Under Rule 55(c), a court may set aside an entry of default for “good cause.” See United States v. A Signed Personal Check No. 730 of Yubran S. Mesle, 615 F.3d 1085, 1091 (9th Cir. 2010). 5 Considering Defendant’s efforts to respond to the complaint prior to the entry of default, and 6 || given that Plaintiff does not oppose Defendant’s showing of good cause, the Court GRANTS 7 Defendant’s motion to set aside default, Dkt. No. 28. Defendant’s answer, Dkt. No. 27, shall be 8 deemed properly filed and entered into the record. 9 The Court also SETS a case management conference on April 15, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. The 10 hearing will be held by Public Zoom Webinar. All counsel, members of the public, and media 11 may access the webinar information at https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/hsg. All attorneys and pro q 12 se litigants appearing for the case management conference are required to join at least 15 minutes 5 13 before the hearing to check in with the courtroom deputy and test internet, video, and audio S 14 || capabilities. The Court further DIRECTS the parties to submit a joint case management 3 15 statement by April 8, 2025, or to submit separate statements by the deadline if the parties are not 16 able to file one jointly. See Civil L-R 16-9(a). The parties should be prepared to discuss how to 5 17 move this case forward expeditiously. 5 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 || Dated: 3/25/2025 20 Alepwrrd 5 Mbl_ |). HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR. 21 United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28