Dania Ruiz-Paramo v. Aroma360, LLC

District Court, D. Colorado·Decided June 9, 2026·No. 1:24-cv-02750·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Judge Philip A. Brimmer

Civil Action No. 24-cv-02750-PAB-SBP

DANIA RUIZ-PARAMO,

Plaintiff,

v.

AROMA360, LLC,

Defendant.

ORDER

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s Renewed Motion for Default Judgment and Request for Express Finding of Proper Service [Docket No. 25]. I. BACKGROUND1 Defendant Aroma360, LLC (“Aroma360”) is a limited liability company incorporated in the state of Florida with its principal place of business located at 2058 NW Miami Ct., Miami, Florida. Docket No. 1 at 2, ¶ 5. On December 25, 2023, plaintiff Dania Ruiz-Paramo purchased a gift card from Aroma360 with a face value of $1,000. Id. at 3, ¶ 13. Aroma360 sent this gift card to Ms. Ruiz-Paramo by email. Id. The gift card was a “general use pre-paid card” or “store pre-paid card” as defined by the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 (“CCARDA”) and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (“EFTA”) of 1978, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1693(a)–(r). Id., ¶ 14.

1 The Clerk of Court entered default on December 17, 2024. Docket No. 13. As a result, the well-pled allegations in plaintiff’s complaint, Docket No. 1, are deemed admitted. See Olcott v. Del. Flood Co., 327 F.3d 1115, 1125 (10th Cir. 2003). Regulation E under the CCARDA prohibits the sale of gift cards and general-use prepaid cards that expire within five years. Id. at 2, ¶ 11; see also 12 C.F.R. § 1005.20(e). The gift card Ms. Ruiz-Paramo purchased expired on March 31, 2024, less than five years after Aroma360 issued the card. Docket No. 1 at 3, ¶ 15. Ms. Ruiz- Paramo’s gift card is less valuable than it would have been had the card not contained

an expiration date within five years. Id. at 4, ¶ 19. On October 4, 2024, Ms. Ruiz-Paramo filed suit in this case, bringing one claim of violating the CCARDA. Id. at 3–4, ¶¶ 12–20. Ms. Ruiz-Paramo seeks statutory damages of $1,000, “[r]eimbursement of her costs for the purchase of the gift card,” and attorney’s fees. Id. at 4–5. On November 4, 2024, Ms. Ruiz-Paramo served Kathy Collester,2 supposedly the director of compliance for Eduard Kotlyarov, Jr., Aroma360’s registered agent, at 433 Plaza Real Suite 375, Boca Raton, Florida. Docket No. 6. On December 17, 2024, the Clerk of Court entered default against Aroma360. Docket No. 13. That same day, Ms. Ruiz-Paramo filed a motion for default judgment. Docket

No. 14. On May 27, 2025, the Court denied the motion for default judgment without prejudice, finding that Ms. Ruiz-Paramo did not establish that she properly served Aroma360. Docket No. 18. Specifically, the Court found that service was improper under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(h)(1)(B) because Ms. Collester was not identified as an officer, a managing or general agent, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process.3 Id. at 9. On October 6, 2025, Ms.

2 Exhibit B to Docket No. 25 is a LinkedIn webpage for Ms. Collester that indicates her first name is spelled “Kathi” and that she is the Director of Compliance for Aroma 360, LLC. Docket No. 25-2. 3 The Court also found that service was improper under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e), Florida law, and Colorado law. Docket No. 18 at 9-10. Ruiz-Paramo filed a new motion for default judgment, asserting that she has now properly served Aroma360. Docket No. 25. II. LEGAL STANDARD In order to obtain a judgment by default, a party must follow the two-step process described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 55. First, the party must seek an entry of default from the

Clerk of the Court under Rule 55(a). Second, after default has been entered by the Clerk, the party must seek judgment under the strictures of Rule 55(b). See Williams v. Smithson, 57 F.3d 1081, 1995 WL 365988, at *1 (10th Cir. June 20, 1995) (unpublished table decision) (citing Meehan v. Snow, 652 F.2d 274, 276 (2d Cir. 1981)). The decision to enter default judgment is “committed to the district court's sound discretion.” Olcott, 327 F.3d at 1124 (citation omitted). In exercising that discretion, the Court considers that “[s]trong policies favor resolution of disputes on their merits.” In re Rains, 946 F.2d 731, 732 (10th Cir. 1991) (quotation and citations omitted). “The default judgment must normally be viewed as available only when the adversary process has been halted because of an essentially unresponsive party.” Id. It serves to

protect a plaintiff against “interminable delay and continued uncertainty as to his rights.” Id. at 733. When “ruling on a motion for default judgment, the court may rely on detailed affidavits or documentary evidence to determine the appropriate sum for the default judgment.” Seme v. E&H Prof’l Sec. Co., Inc., No. 08-cv-01569-RPM-KMT, 2010 WL 1553786, at *11 (D. Colo. Mar. 19, 2010). A party may not simply sit out the litigation without consequence. See Cessna Fin. Corp. v. Bielenberg Masonry Contracting, Inc., 715 F.2d 1442, 1444-45 (10th Cir. 1983) (“a workable system of justice requires that litigants not be free to appear at their pleasure. We therefore must hold parties and their attorneys to a reasonably high standard of diligence in observing the courts’ rules of procedure. The threat of judgment by default serves as an incentive to meet this standard.”). One such consequence is that, upon the entry of default against a defendant, the well-pleaded allegations in the complaint are deemed admitted. See 10A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2688.1 (4th ed., 2023 rev.). “Even after

default, however, it remains for the court to consider whether the unchallenged facts constitute a legitimate cause of action, since a party in default does not admit conclusions of law.” Id. A court need not accept conclusory allegations. Moffett v. Halliburton Energy Servs., Inc., 291 F.3d 1227, 1232 (10th Cir. 2002). Although “[s]pecific facts are not necessary” in order to state a claim, Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (per curiam) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)), the well-pleaded facts must “permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679 (2009) (quotations and alterations omitted). Thus, even though modern rules of pleading are somewhat

forgiving, “a complaint still must contain either direct or inferential allegations respecting all the material elements necessary to sustain a recovery under some viable legal theory.” Bryson v. Gonzales, 534 F.3d 1282, 1286 (10th Cir. 2008) (quotation and citation omitted).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Dania Ruiz-Paramo v. Aroma360, LLC, (D. Colo. 2026).

Dania Ruiz-Paramo v. Aroma360, LLC (Dania Ruiz-Paramo v. Aroma360, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

International Shoe Co. v. Washington
326 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1945)
World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson
444 U.S. 286 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc.
465 U.S. 770 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz
471 U.S. 462 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Chloé v. Queen Bee of Beverly Hills, LLC
616 F.3d 158 (Second Circuit, 2010)
Jenkins v. City of Topeka
136 F.3d 1274 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
Peay v. BellSouth Medical Assistance Plan
205 F.3d 1206 (Tenth Circuit, 2000)
Moffett v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
291 F.3d 1227 (Tenth Circuit, 2002)
Olcott v. Delaware Flood Co.
327 F.3d 1115 (Tenth Circuit, 2003)
Dudnikov v. Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts, Inc.
514 F.3d 1063 (Tenth Circuit, 2008)
Bryson v. Gonzales
534 F.3d 1282 (Tenth Circuit, 2008)
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A. v. Brown
131 S. Ct. 2846 (Supreme Court, 2011)