Westhoff Vertriebsges mbH v. Berg

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 WESTHOFF VERTRIESBGSGES Case No. 22-cv-0938-BAS-SBC MBH, 12 ORDER LIFTING STAY Plaintiff, 13 v. (ECF No. 88) 14

CHRISTOPHER BERG; BLUESKYE 15 CREATIVE, INC.; and DOES 1–10, 16 Defendants. 17

18 This Court entered an automatic stay of the instant proceeding nearly nine months 19 ago after Defendants Berg and BlueSkye filed for bankruptcy. (ECF No. 84.) The Court 20 also permitted BlueSkye’s counsel, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP (“GRSM”) to 21 withdraw as counsel for Defendants, leaving BlueSkye, a corporation, without 22 representation in the stayed case. (Id.) Plaintiff now informs the Court that the bankruptcy 23 court has granted “relief from stay and for reconsideration as to the accounting, fraud and 24 breach of fiduciary duty causes of action, along with the entirety of Plaintiff’s motion for 25 attorneys’ fees and costs.” (ECF No. 88 at 7.) Accordingly, Plaintiff Westhoff now moves 26 to lift the stay in this action. (Id.) 27 The bankruptcy court in the related proceeding has already granted Plaintiff 28 Westhoff’s motion for stay relief and to proceed to final judgment in this Court with respect 1 ||to the accounting, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty causes of action. (/d., Ex. A.) 2 || Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the Motion. (/d.) 3 However, BlueSkye cannot proceed in this case without representation. See CivLR 4 83.3Q); see also CE Res., Inc. v. Magellan Grp., LLC, No. 2:08-CV-02999MCEKJM, 2009 5 || WL 3367489, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 14, 2009) (“It is a longstanding rule that corporations 6 || and other incorporated associations must appear in court through an attorney.” (citing Jn re 7 W. Airlines, 40 F.3d 1058, 1059 (9th Cir. 1994)). BlueSkye is hereby ORDERED to 8 ||retain new counsel within forty-five (45) days of the date of this order, or risk default 9 ||judgment. See United States v. High Country Broad. Co., 3 F.3d 1244, 1245 (9th Cir. 10 || 1993) (affirming a default judgment against a corporate defendant that failed to comply 11 |} with a court order requiring it to retain new counsel). 12 Within fourteen days of the date BlueSkye’s counsel has entered an appearance, 13 ||parties are ORDERED to contact the Magistrate Judge’s chambers to schedule both a 14 settlement conference and case management conference. BlueSkye is warned that if it 15 || does not retain counsel within the time period required by the Court, the Court may 16 place BlueSkye in default. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 19 || DATED: December 13, 2024 ( itl A (Liphan 6 20 United States District Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4.