Perez v. ZL Restaurant Corp.

81 F. Supp. 3d 1062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181351, 2014 WL 7717614
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedDecember 30, 2014
DocketNo. 13-CV-0075-MV-GBW
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 81 F. Supp. 3d 1062 (Perez v. ZL Restaurant Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perez v. ZL Restaurant Corp., 81 F. Supp. 3d 1062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181351, 2014 WL 7717614 (D.N.M. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARTHA VÁZQUEZ, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 23]. The Court, having considered the motion, briefs, relevant law, and being otherwise fully informed, finds that the Plaintiffs Motion is well-taken and will be GRANTED.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This Motion comes as the latest in a case plagued by procedural and formal irregularities, each apparently stemming from the dual impediments posed by Lixin Zhang’s status as a pro se litigant and his limited command of the English language. Zhang, and his wholly-owned corporation, ZL Restaurant Corporation (“ZL” or the “Corporation”), initially co-defendants in this matter, failed timely to respond to Plaintiffs Complaint [Doc. 1], prompting Magistrate Judge Lynch to demand an explanation as to why the case had not progressed [Doc'. 5]. Apparently sympathetic to the obstacles that Zhang faces in this suit, the Plaintiff elected to cooperate actively with the Defendant to move the case forward; satisfied with this explana^ tion, Magistrate Judge Lynch extended the time to file an answer from April 8, 2013 to July 22, 2013. Docs. 6, 7. On July 22, 2013, Zhang evidently e-mailed Plaintiff what appeared to be an answer written in one of the Chinese languages. Doc. 8. The Court provided Defendants yet more time in which to file the answer with the Court in English. Id. at 2. The Defendants complied and filed an English-language “Answer for Complaint” on August 12,2013. Doc.9.

However, Zhang signed this answer on behalf of himself and the Corporation, in violation of one of this district’s local rules, which provides that corporations may appear only through attorneys admitted to practice before the Court. See Doe. 11. See also D.N.M.LR-CIV. 83.7. Consequently, the Magistrate Judge entered an Order to Show Cause [Doc. 11], which explained the applicable local rule, provided the Corporation an opportunity to secure counsel and file an Answer, and expressly warned that “failure to comply will result in the earlier Answer being stricken and a default judgment being entered” against the Corporation. Id. at 1. The Corporation declined to respond to the Order by the deadline and did not obtain licensed counsel, such that the Answer was stricken as to the Corporation and a Default Judgment [Doc. 15] was entered against it. See generally Docs. 13, 15.

The Plaintiff now moves for summary judgment against Zhang, the sole remaining Defendant in this matter. See Doc. 23. Consistent, with the history of this case, Zhang’s filings in response to the Plaintiffs- Motion exhibit several irregularities that violate the rules of procedure applicable to summary judgment, including, for example, failing to conform his Memorandum in Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 25] and Amendment to Defense’s Memorandum in Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 28] to local rule 56 and cite competent evidence in the manner required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. See D.N.M.LR-CIV. 56; Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. Although Zhang is a pro se litigant and this Court must interpret his filings liberally, his duty to abide by all rules of procedure, including the local rules, is not abated. See Keehner v. Dunn, 409 F.Supp.2d 1266, [1067]*10671270 (D.Kan.2005) (“plaintiffs are not excused from compliance with fundamental rules of procedure because they are proceeding pro se. Pro se litigants must follow rules of procedure, including local rules.”); Green v. Dorrell, 969 F.2d 915, 917 (10th Cir.1992) (upholding dismissal of a claim predicated on a pro se litigant’s violation of a local rule that provided that failure timely to respond would result in “a confession” of the matters raised by the moving party); Solis v. Supporting Hands, No. CIV 11-0406 JB/KBM, 2013 WL 1897822, at *1 (D.N.M. Apr. 30, 2013) (“because the [pro se ] Defendants have not filed a timely written response contesting any of the paragraphs in the Plaintiffs statement of the undisputed facts, the Court may take the facts as the Plaintiff has stated them.”); Franke v. ARUP Labs., Inc., 390 Fed.Appx. 822, 826 (10th Cir.2010) (“a pro se plaintiff must strictly comply with the requirements of Rule 56 in order to properly contest a motion for summary judgment.”).

As a result of Zhang’s refusal to comply with the applicable procedural rules, the findings of fact below are drawn exclusively from the Plaintiffs Statement of Undisputed Facts. See Doc. 23-1 at 2-11. That is, because Zhang has not offered any substantive counter statement of facts and because both of his responses suffer from significant procedural defects, the Court will disregard the purported factual content of his two responses. See Docs. 24, 28. See also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) (“If a party fails to properly support an assertion of fact or fails to properly address another party’s assertion of fact as required by Rule 56(c), the court may ... consider the fact undisputed for purposes of the motion.”). Indeed, each of the statements contained in Zhang’s responses is either illogical, irrelevant, unsupported, or a mere promise of future evidence. Hom v. Squire, 81 F.3d 969, 973 (10th Cir.1996) (“Once the movant has made a showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the non-moving party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of the pleadings.”) (internal quotation marks omitted); United States v. Hopkins, 927 F.Supp.2d 1120, 1155 (D.N.M.2013) (“It is not enough for the party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment to rest on mere allegations or denials of his [or her] pleadings.”) (internal quotation marks omitted); Bell Lumber and Pole Co. v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 847 F.Supp. 738, 742 (D.Minn.1994) (“The non-moving party, however, cannot rest upon mere denials or allegations in the pleadings. Nor may the nonmoving party simply argue facts supporting its claim will be developed later or at trial.”). Further, none of Zhang’s factual exhibits or “affidavits” [Doc. 28, ex. C-G] is properly sworn. Elder-Keep v. Aksamit, 460 F.3d 979, 984 (8th Cir.2006) (“a district court may properly reject unsworn documents.”); Clark v. Thomas, 505 F.Supp.2d 884, 888 n. 1 (D.Kan.2007) (“Unsworn statements do not constitute proper evidence for consideration upon summary judgment.”). Consequently, these, too, will be disregarded for the purposes of this Motion. Hagelin for President Comm. of Kansas v. Graves, 25 F.3d 956, 959 (10th Cir.1994) (“Because the state failed to submit any materials contradicting plaintiffs’ statement of facts in support of their motion for summary judgment, these facts are deemed admitted.”).

As none of these statements or exhibits will be considered by the Court, the Court will not refute them exhaustively in its description of the facts. See Hamlett v. Srivastava, 496 F.Supp.2d 325, 328 (S.D.N.Y.2007) (“That a party appears pro se, though entitled to some latitude not accorded to litigants represented by counsel, does not relieve him of the obligation [1068]*1068to respond to a motion for summary judgment with sufficient admissible evidence.”).

FINDINGS OF FACT

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81 F. Supp. 3d 1062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181351, 2014 WL 7717614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perez-v-zl-restaurant-corp-nmd-2014.