Hudson v. Scharf

Opinion

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4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 10 DOUGLAS VERNON HUDSON, CASE NO. C21-5827JLR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER ON MOTION FOR v. DEFAULT JUDGMENT 12 CHARLES W. SCHARF, et al., 13 Defendants. 14

15 Before the court is Plaintiff Douglas Vernon Hudson’s motion for default 16 judgment against Defendant Don Fleming. (Mot. (Dkt. # 27).) The court has reviewed 17 Mr. Hudson’s motion, the balance of the record, and the applicable law. Being fully 18 advised, the court DENIES Mr. Hudson’s motion for default judgment. 19 The Local Civil Rules provide specific requirements for a party seeking default 20 judgment, and Mr. Hudson has not satisfied those requirements. See Local Rules W.D. 21 Wash. LCR 55. Local Rule 55(b)(1) states: “No motion for judgment by default should 22 be filed against any party unless the court has previously granted a motion for default 1 against that party pursuant to LCR 55(a) or unless default otherwise has been entered.” 2 Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 55(b)(1). Thus, before the court can consider Mr. 3 Hudson’s motion for default judgment, he must file—and the court must grant—a motion

4 for default. See id. These steps have not yet occurred. (See Dkt.). 5 Further, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has stated, Federal Rule of Civil 6 Procedure 55 also requires a “two-step process” consisting of: (1) seeking a clerk’s entry 7 of default, and (2) filing a motion for the entry of default judgment. See Eitel v. McCool, 8 782 F.2d 1470, 1471 (9th Cir. 1986) (“Eitel apparently fails to understand the two-step

9 process required by Rule 55.”); see also Symantec Corp. v. Global Impact, Inc., 559 F.3d 10 922, 923 (9th Cir. 2009) (noting that Rules 55(a) and (b) provide a two-step process for 11 obtaining a default judgment); Norman v. Small, No. 09cv2235 WQH, 2010 WL 12 5173683, at *2 (S.D. Cal. Dec. 14, 2010) (denying the plaintiff’s motion for default 13 judgment and explaining that “[f]irst, the clerk must enter a party’s default, then,

14 provided certain conditions are met, a court may enter a default judgment”). 15 Accordingly, the court DENIES Mr. Hudson’s motion for default judgment (Dkt. 16 # 27) without prejudice to seeking default judgment in accordance with the Local Civil 17 Rules and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 18 Dated this 2nd day of March, 2022.

19 A 20 United States District Judge