Reynolds v. Safeway Inc

Opinion

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5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 SETH REYNOLDS, CASE NO. 2:22-cv-00197-TL 11 Plaintiff, ORDER 12 v. 13 SAFEWAY INC; and ALBERTSON'S LLC, 14 Defendants. 15 16

17 This matter comes before the Court on the Parties’ stipulation to set aside the entry of 18 default in the King County Superior Court of the State of Washington. Dkt. No. 11. Having 19 considered the Parties’ stipulation and the relevant record, the Court hereby finds good cause to 20 GRANT the stipulation and set aside the state court entry of default. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(c); see 21 also Pierson v. USAA, 2021 WL 3725649, at *1–3 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 23, 2021) (finding good 22 cause to set aside a state court entry of default that happened prior to removal to federal court). 23 In particular, no culpable conduct by Defendants has been shown, it is too premature at this stage 24 to find that Defendants have no meritorious defense, and the stipulation demonstrates there is no 1 prejudice to Parties from the setting aside of the entry of default. See Pierson, 2021 WL 2 3725649, at *2–3 (listing factors to consider).1 3 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the stipulation and ORDERS that the entry of default 4 against Defendants be set aside.

5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 Dated this 25th day of February 2022. 7 A 8 Tana Lin United States District Judge 9

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1 The Court also notes the possibility that neither Defendant has been served with the operative Amended Complaint 23 (Dkt. No. 1, at 2), filed on February 14, 2022, which suggests that the entry of default in the state court—also on February 14, 2022 (Dkt. No. 11 ¶¶2–3)—may have been improper. This further weighs in favor of granting the 24 Parties’ stipulation and setting aside the entry of default.