Quigley v. Soul Surgery LLC

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJuly 25, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-01050
StatusUnknown

This text of Quigley v. Soul Surgery LLC (Quigley v. Soul Surgery LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quigley v. Soul Surgery LLC, (D. Ariz. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Elizabeth Quigley, No. CV-24-01050-PHX-ASB

10 Plaintiff, REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

11 v.

12 Soul Surgery LLC, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 TO HON. STEPHEN M. MCNAMEE, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE: 16 Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment Against Defendants 17 Soul Surgery LLC and John Mulligan and Jane Doe Mulligan (Doc. 33). No Response 18 was filed to the Motion, and the time for same has passed. For the reasons below, 19 undersigned recommends the Motion be granted and default judgment be entered as to 20 Defendants Soul Surgery LLC and John Mulligan and Jane Doe Mulligan. Further, 21 undersigned recommends the Court grant Plaintiff and Defendant Heather Mulligan’s 22 Amended Stipulation of Defendants Heather and John Doe Mulligan (Doc. 32). 23 A. Procedural History 24 On May 7, 2024, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Defendants Soul Surgery LLC; 25 John Mulligan and Jane Doe Mulligan, a married couple; and Heather Mulligan and John 26 Doe Mulligan, a married couple. (Doc. 1.) All defendants were served. (See Docs. 9-13.) 27 Defendant Heather Mulligan filed an Answer. (Doc. 14.) No other defendants filed a 28 responsive pleading. Plaintiff filed an Application for Entry of Default as to Defendants 1 Soul Surgery LLC and John Mulligan and Jane Doe Mulligan. (Doc. 20.) The Clerk of 2 Court entered default as to Defendants Soul Surgery LLC and John Mulligan and Jane Doe 3 Mulligan. (Doc. 21.) Defendants Heather Mulligan and John Doe Mulligan, along with 4 Plaintiff, stipulated to the dismissal of Defendants Heather Mulligan and John Doe 5 Mulligan. (Doc. 32.) Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment against Defendants Soul 6 Surgery LLC and John Mulligan and Jane Doe Mulligan (collectively hereinafter referred 7 to as the “Defaulting Defendants”) was filed (Doc. 33), and no response followed. 8 B. Legal Standard – Default Judgment 9 Once default has been entered against a party, the Court has discretion to enter 10 default judgment against that party. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)(2); Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 11 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). “When entry of judgment is sought against a party who 12 has failed to plead or otherwise defend, a district court has an affirmative duty to look into 13 its jurisdiction over both the subject matter and the parties.” In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707, 712 14 (9th Cir. 1999). 15 After the Court has been satisfied that it has personal and subject matter jurisdiction, 16 the Court must consider the factors enumerated by the Ninth Circuit in Eitel v. McCool, 17 782 F.2d 1470, 1471-72 (9th Cir. 1986) when deciding whether to grant default judgment. 18 Those factors are: “(1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of 19 plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at 20 stake in the action; (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether 21 the default was due to excusable neglect; and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal 22 Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits.” Id. Upon default, and thus 23 when applying the Eitel factors, “the factual allegations of the complaint, except those 24 relating to the amount of damages, will be taken as true.” Geddes v. United Fin. Grp., 559 25 F.2d 557, 560 (9th Cir. 1977). In its default judgment analysis, the Court “is not required 26 to make detailed findings of fact.” Fair Hous. of Marin v. Combs, 285 F.3d 899, 906 (9th 27 Cir. 2002). 28 // 1 C. Analysis – Default Judgment 2 The Court has considered the record of these proceedings, including Plaintiff’s 3 Declaration in Support of Motion for Entry of Default Judgment (Doc. 33-1). The Court 4 finds that Plaintiff has complied with the requirements of Rule 55 of the Federal Rules of 5 Civil Procedure. The Court therefore considers jurisdiction. 6 1. Jurisdiction 7 Subject matter jurisdiction is first present because Plaintiff has brought two claims 8 under 29 U.S.C. §§ 206-07 (the Fair Labor Standards Act or “FLSA”). See 28 U.S.C. § 9 1331. The remaining counts (Counts 3 and 4) are brought under Arizona law, specifically 10 the Arizona Minimum Wage Act (“AMWA”, A.R.S. § 363) and the Arizona Wage Act 11 (“AWA”, A.R.S. § 23-350), respectively. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), this Court “shall 12 have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the 13 action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy 14 under Article III of the United States Constitution.” Undersigned concludes the state law 15 claims form part of the same case or controversy as Plaintiff’s federal law claims for 16 purposes of § 1367(a), because all of the claims “derive from a common nucleus of 17 operative fact and are such that a plaintiff would ordinarily be expected to try them in one 18 judicial proceeding.” Trustees of the Constr. Indus. & Laborers Health & Welfare Tr. v. 19 Desert Valley Landscape & Maint., Inc., 333 F.3d 923, 925 (9th Cir. 2003) (citations and 20 internal quotation marks omitted). Undersigned does not find that any exceptions under 21 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c) apply, and supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims is 22 present. Personal jurisdiction exists, as the Defaulting Defendants are either organized in, 23 or are residents of, this District, and the record establishes service was effectuated upon 24 them. 25 Because jurisdiction is proper, the Court next considers the Eitel factors. 26 2. Eitel factors 27 In deciding whether to grant default judgment, the Court must weigh “(1) the 28 possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) 1 the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at stake in the action; (5) the 2 possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the default was due to 3 excusable neglect; and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of Civil 4 Procedure favoring decisions on the merits.” Eitel, 782 F.2d at 1471-72. 5 a. Factor 1 6 The Court finds the first factor weighs in Plaintiff’s favor. Plaintiff has faithfully 7 prosecuted this case since its inception. The Defaulting Defendants have not participated 8 in this matter at all. Plaintiff has no alternative means to resolve her claims in her 9 Complaint against the Defaulting Defendants. Thus, there is a strong possibility of 10 prejudice to Plaintiff if default judgment is not entered. See Ramirez v. Unique Transitional 11 Homes Staffing LLC, No. CV-23-01882-PHX-DGC, 2024 WL 1740020, at *2 (D. Ariz. 12 Apr.

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