Hoang Le v. Mulroses USA, Inc.

• Court: District Court, C.D. California
• Decided: April 18, 2025
• Docket: 5:25-cv-00599
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL MINUTES— GENERAL

Case No. 5:25-cv-00599-SSS-DTBx Date April 18, 2025 Title Hoang Le v. Mulroses USA, Inc.

Present: The Honorable SUNSHINE S. SYKES, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Irene Vazquez Not Reported Deputy Clerk Court Reporter

Attorney(s) Present for Plaintiff(s): Attorney(s) Present for Defendant(s): None Present None Present

Proceedings: (IN CHAMBERS) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE REGARDING REPRESENTATION OF CORPORATE DEFENDANT On March 26, 2025, Defendant Mulroses USA, Inc. (“Mulroses”) filed an Answer seemingly on behalf of itself. [See Dkt. 13]. However, corporations and other business entities cannot appear pro se in federal court. See Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony, 506 U.S. 194, 201-02 (1993) (“It has been the law for the better part of two centuries . . . that a corporation may appear in the federal courts only through licensed counsel.”); Dr. JKL Ltd. v. HPC IT Educ. Ctr., 749 F. Supp. 2d 1038, 1046 (N.D. Cal. 2010) (“A corporation or other artificial entity must be represented by licensed counsel.”); see also C.D. Cal. R. 83-2.2.2 (“No organization or entity of any other kind (including corporations, limited liability corporations, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, unincorporated associations, trusts) may appear in any action or proceeding unless represented by an attorney permitted to practice before this Court under L.R. 83- 2.1.”). Seeing as Mulroses is a corporate entity and is not represented by counsel, it cannot proceed further in this case pro se. Mulroses must retain counsel and refile its answer. Accordingly, Mulroses is ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE in writing why the Answer should not be stricken for failure to retain counsel by May 9, 2025. A hearing is set for May 16, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom videoconference1. IT IS SO ORDERED.

1 To obtain the video conference link for the scheduled hearing, the parties are directed to Judge Sykes’ Procedures and Schedules page on the Court’s website: http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-sunshine-s-sykes. Please follow the instructions listed under “Zoom Webinar Information.”