GS Holistic, LLC v. Ashes Plus Nine

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 GS HOLISTIC, LLC, Case No. 22-cv-07101-LJC

8 Plaintiff, NOTICE RE: DEFAULT JUDGMENT 9 v. PROCEDURE

10 ASHES PLUS NINE, et al., Re: ECF No. 32 Defendants. 11

12 13 As Plaintiff GS Holistic, LLC has filed a Motion for Default Judgment as to Defendants 14 Ashes Plus Nine and Gaizan N. Alreyahsi (Re: ECF No. 32), the Court provides this notice to the 15 parties regarding further motion briefing. Currently, responses/oppositions are due by June 13, 16 2023. Replies are due by June 20, 2023. A hearing on the Motion for Default Judgment is set for 17 July 18, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in San Francisco, Courtroom G, 15th Floor before Magistrate Judge 18 Lisa J. Cisneros. Requests for additional time shall be made in accordance with Civil Local Rule 19 6-3. 20 If no response/opposition is filed by the deadline, Plaintiff shall instead file proposed 21 findings of fact and conclusions of law (as outlined in Attachment A) by the reply deadline. 22 Plaintiff shall also email the proposed findings in Microsoft Word format to 23 ljcpo@cand.uscourts.gov. No chambers copies are required. 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 1 Plaintiff shall serve this notice upon all other parties in this action and file proof of service 2 || thereafter. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 || Dated: June 5, 2023 5 po 6 7 a LISAJ. CISNEROS 7 Unitéd States Magistrate Judge 8 9 10 11 12

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1 ATTACHMENT A 2 *** 3 I. INTRODUCTION 4 (Relief sought and disposition.) 5 II. BACKGROUND 6 (The pertinent factual and procedural background, including citations to specific pages or paragraphs 7 in the Complaint and other competent evidence.) 8 III. LEGAL STANDARD 9 (Include the following standard) 10 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b)(2) permits a court, following default by a defendant, 11 to enter default judgment in a case. The decision of whether to grant or deny a request for default 12 judgment lies within the sound discretion of the district court. DIRECTV, Inc. v. Hoa Huynh, 503 13 F.3d 847, 852 (9th Cir. 2007). 14 At the default judgment stage, the factual allegations of the Complaint, other than those 15 pertaining to damages, are deemed admitted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b)(6) (“An allegation—other than 16 one relating to the amount of damages—is admitted if a responsive pleading is required and the 17 allegation is not denied”); Garamendi v. Henin, 683 F.3d 1069, 1080 (9th Cir. 2012). “However, a 18 defendant is not held to admit facts that are not well-pleaded or to admit conclusions of law.” 19 DIRECTV, Inc., 503 F.3d at 854 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted)). Therefore, 20 “necessary facts not contained in the pleadings, and claims which are legally insufficient, are not 21 established by default.” Cripps v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 980 F.2d 1261, 1267 (9th Cir. 1992). 22 Further, the scope of relief is limited by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(c), which states that a 23 “default judgment must not differ in kind from, or exceed in amount, what is demanded in the 24 pleadings.” 25 In determining whether default judgment is appropriate, the Ninth Circuit has enumerated 26 the following factors for courts to consider: 27 (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of concerning material facts; (6) whether the default was due to 1 excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits. 2 3 Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471-72 (9th Cir. 1986). 4 IV. DISCUSSION 5 A. Jurisdiction and Service of Process 6 (Include the following standard) 7 In considering whether to enter default judgment, a district court must first determine 8 whether it has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties to the case. See In re Tuli, 172 9 F.3d 707, 712 (9th Cir. 1999). While evaluating the existence of jurisdiction, the court may 10 resolve factual disputes by “look[ing] beyond the complaint” and considering “affidavits or other 11 evidence properly brought before the court.” Savage v. Glendale Union High Sch., Dist. No. 205, 12 Maricopa Cnty., 343 F.3d 1036, 1040, n.2 (9th Cir. 2003) (considering subject matter jurisdiction 13 on a 12(b)(1) motion). 14 1. Subject Matter Jurisdiction 15 (Establish the basis for the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction, including citations to relevant case law 16 and United States Code provisions) 17 2. Personal Jurisdiction 18 a. Basis for Personal Jurisdiction 19 (Establish the basis for the Court’s personal jurisdiction, including citations to relevant legal 20 authority, specific to each defendant. If seeking default judgment against any out-of-state defendants, 21 this shall include a minimum contacts analysis under Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 22 F.3d 797, 802 (9th Cir. 2004)). 23 b. Service of Process 24 (Establish the adequacy of the service of process on the party against whom default is requested, 25 including relevant provisions of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4.) 26 B. Eitel Factors 27 (A detailed analysis of each individual Eitel factor, separated by numbered headings. Factors 2 1 heading. Plaintiff(s) shall include citations to cases that are factually similar, preferably within the 2 Ninth Circuit.) 3 C. Relief Sought 4 (An analysis of any relief sought, including a calculation of damages, attorney’s fees, and costs, with 5 citations to relevant legal authority.) 6 1. Damages 7 (As damages alleged in the complaint are not accepted as true, the proposed findings must provide (a) 8 legal authority establishing entitlement to such damages, and (b) citations to evidence supporting the 9 requested damages.) 10 2. Attorney’s Fees 11 (If attorney’s fees are sought, the proposed findings shall include the following: (1) Evidence 12 supporting the request for hours worked, including a detailed breakdown and identification of the 13 subject matter of each person’s time expenditures, accompanied by actual billing records and/or time 14 sheets; (2) Documentation justifying the requested billing rates, such as a curriculum vitae or resume; 15 (3) Evidence that the requested rates are in line with those prevailing in the community, including rate 16 determinations in other cases of similarly complex litigation, particularly those setting a rate for the 17 plaintiff’s attorney; and (4) Evidence that the requested hours are reasonable, including citations to 18 other cases of similarly complex litigation (preferably from this District).) 19 3. Costs 20 (Any request for costs must include citations to evidence supporting the requested costs and relevant 21 legal authority establishing entitlement to such costs.) 22 V. CONCLUSION 23 (Disposition, including any specific award amount(s) and judgment.) 24 *** 25 26 27