Sibley v. Choice Hotels International, Inc.

304 F.R.D. 125, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1198, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3196, 2015 WL 149913
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 7, 2015
DocketNo. 14-CV-0634(JS)(ARL)
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 304 F.R.D. 125 (Sibley v. Choice Hotels International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sibley v. Choice Hotels International, Inc., 304 F.R.D. 125, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1198, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3196, 2015 WL 149913 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

SEYBERT, District Judge:

Plaintiff Trecia Lorelle Sibley (“Plaintiff’) brings this personal injury action against Defendants Choice Hotels International, Inc. (“Choice Hotels”), Ratan Group Hotel Limited Liability Company (the “Ratan Group”), Mahesh M. Ratanji (“Ratanji”), and Khozem Kharawalla (“Kharawalla,” and together with the Ratan Group and Ratanji, the “Ratan Defendants”). Presently before the Court are: (1) Magistrate Judge Arlene R. Lindsay’s Report and Recommendation (“R & R”) recommending that the undersigned deny Plaintiffs pending motion for default judgment against the Ratan Defendants and grant the Ratan Defendants’ pending motion to vacate their default (Docket Entry 42); and (2) Plaintiffs motion to strike Choice Hotel’s affirmative defenses and various paragraphs of Choice Hotel’s Amended Answer that assert lack of knowledge or information (Docket Entry 17). For the following reasons, the Court ADOPTS Judge Lindsay’s R & R over Plaintiffs objections, and Plaintiffs motion to strike is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff commenced this diversity action on January 29, 2014, alleging that she sustained injuries when she was bitten by bed bugs at Defendants’ hotel in Huntington Station, New York. (See generally Compl.) Plaintiff served the Ratan Defendants with Summonses and the Complaint on February 4, 2014, (see Docket Entries 10-3, 10-4, 10-5), but the Ratan Defendants failed to answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint within the time allotted. On March 4, 2014, Plaintiff requested that the Clerk of the Court certify the Ratan Defendants’ default. (Docket Entry 10.) The Clerk entered the Ratan Defendants’ default that same day. (Docket Entry 11.)

On March 6, 2014, Plaintiff filed a motion for default judgment against the Ratan Defendants. (Docket Entry 20.) The Ratan Defendants subsequently appeared in this action and, on March 14, 2014, filed a motion [129]*129to vacate the Clerk’s entry of default. (Docket Entry 24.) On March 19, 2014, the undersigned referred Plaintiffs motion for default judgment and the Ratan Defendants’ motion to vacate to Judge Lindsay for a report and recommendation. (Docket Entry 32.) Judge Lindsay issued her R & R on November 6, 2014. (Docket Entry 42.) The R & R recommends that the undersigned grant the Ratan Defendants’ motion to vacate and deny Plaintiffs motion for default judgment. On November 7, 2014, Plaintiff filed objections to Judge Lindsay’s R & R. (Docket Entry 43.)

Unlike the Ratan Defendants, Choice Hotels filed a timely Answer to the Complaint on February 20, 2014 (Docket Entry 4), to which the Ratan Defendants filed a motion to strike (Docket 7). Choice Hotels subsequently filed an Amended Answer, which appears to be identical to the original Answer, except that the Amended Answer adds a sixth affirmative defense.1 (Docket Entry 15.) On March 5, 2014, Plaintiff filed a new motion to strike Choice Hotel’s affirmative defenses and various paragraphs of the Amended Answer. (Docket Entry 17.) Plaintiffs motion to strike, Judge Lindsay’s R & R, and the motions for default judgment and to vacate the Clerk’s entry of default are currently pending.2

DISCUSSION

The Court will first address Judge Lindsay’s R & R and the pending motions for default judgment and to vacate the Clerk’s entry of default before turning to Plaintiffs motion to strike.

I. Objections to Judge Lindsay's R & R

The Court will first set forth the applicable legal standard for evaluating a report and recommendation before turning to Plaintiffs objections specifically.

A. Legal Standard

“When evaluating the report and recommendation of a magistrate judge, the district court may adopt those portions of the report to which no objections have been made and which are not facially erroneous.” Walker v. Vaughan, 216 F.Supp.2d 290, 291 (S.D.N.Y.2002) (citation omitted). A party may serve and file specific, written objections to a magistrate’s report and recommendation within fourteen days of receiving the recommended disposition. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(2). Upon receiving any timely objections to the magistrate’s recommendation, the district “court may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3). A party that objects to a report and recommendation must point out the specific portions of the report and recommendation to which they object. See Barratt v. Joie, No. 96-CV-0324, 2002 WL 335014, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 4, 2002) (citations omitted).

When a party raises an objection to a magistrate judge’s report, the Court must conduct a de novo review of any contested sections of the report. See Pizarro v. Bartlett, 776 F.Supp. 815, 817 (S.D.N.Y.1991). But if a party “makes only eonclusory or general objections, or simply reiterates his original arguments, the Court reviews the Report and Recommendation only for clear error.” Pall Corp. v. Entegris, Inc., 249 F.R.D. 48, 51 (E.D.N.Y.2008) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Furthermore, even in a de novo review of a party’s specific objections, the Court ordinarily will not consider “arguments, ease law and/or evidentiary material which could have been, but [were] not, presented to the magistrate judge in the first instance.” Kennedy v. Adamo, No. 02-CV-1776, 2006 WL 3704784, [130]*130at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 1, 2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

B. Plaintiffs Objections

Plaintiff objects to Judge Lindsay’s finding that the Ratan Defendants have demonstrated good cause to vacate the entry of default against them. (Pl.'s Objs., Docket Entry 43.) The Court disagrees with Plaintiff.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a) states that “[w]hen a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend, and that failure is shown by affidavit or otherwise, the clerk shall enter the party’s default.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a). However, a defendant may move to set aside an entry of default pursuant to Rule 55(c) for “good cause.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(c). In determining whether good cause exists for relieving a party from a finding of default, courts consider “[1] the willfulness of the default, [2] the existence of a meritorious defense, and [3] the level of prejudice that the non-defaulting party may suffer should relief be granted.” Pecarsky v. Galaxiworld.com Ltd., 249 F.3d 167, 171 (2d Cir.2001).

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304 F.R.D. 125, 90 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1198, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3196, 2015 WL 149913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sibley-v-choice-hotels-international-inc-nyed-2015.