Schaeffler Business Information LLC v. Live Oak Banking Company ( 2023 )

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Schaeffler Business Information LLC, No. CV-21-00740-PHX-JJT 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Live Oak Banking Company, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 16 At issue is the Second Joint Status Report (Doc. 52) filed by Defendants. 17 When the Court granted the Motion (Doc. 48) by Plaintiff’s former counsel to 18 withdraw from representation of Plaintiff, it ordered Plaintiff—which as an LLC may not 19 appear pro se in federal court, see, e.g., Lattanzio v. COMTA, 481 F.3d 137, 140 (2d Cir. 20 2007)—to retain counsel and for that counsel to file a notice of appearance by November 1, 21 2022. (Doc. 49.) Plaintiff failed to comply with the Court’s Order or respond in any way, 22 and Plaintiff remains unrepresented in this case. 23 After Defendants filed the first Status Report (without Plaintiff’s participation) 24 (Doc. 50), the Court ordered the parties to jointly file the next Status Report by February 6, 25 2023 (Doc. 51). Defendants timely complied but stated they were again unable to secure 26 the participation of Plaintiff, who has retained counsel solely for the purpose of arbitration 27 in Colorado. (Doc. 52.) Plaintiff has failed to meet its obligations in this lawsuit by 28 (1) failing to retain counsel as ordered by the Court, and (2) declining to participate in the 2|| Joint Status Reports. 3 Defendants also argue that Plaintiff has failed to meet its obligation to pursue 4|| arbitration of its claims. (Doc. 52.) The Court notes that it ordered arbitration of not just || Plaintiff's claims arising out of the Referral Agreement (“RA”), but also out of the 6 || Independent Contractor Service Agreement (“ICSA”)—collectively, Counts 1—4 and 6-8. 7\| (See Doc. 47.) Only Count 5, arising out of the Letter Agreement, remains before this 8 || Court, and the Court stayed that claim pending the results of the arbitration. Based on 9|| Plaintiffs apparent failure to pursue arbitration of Counts 1—4 and 6-8 as compelled by the 10 || Court’s Order, the RA, and the ICSA, Defendants now request dismissal of those claims. (Doc. 52.) 12 The Court will give Plaintiff an opportunity to show cause why all of □□□□□□□□□□□ 13} claims should not be dismissed based on its failure to prosecute and meet its obligations in this lawsuit, including (1) the failure to retain counsel in this lawsuit, as ordered by the 15 || Court (Doc. 49), and failure to participate in two Court-ordered Joint Status Reports 16|| (Docs. 47 at 7, 51); and (2) the failure to pursue arbitration of Counts 1—4 and 6-8, as 17 || compelled by the Court’s Order (Doc. 47), the RA, and the ICSA. The Court will give 18 || Plaintiff 21 days from the date of this Order to file a Response so that it has time to retain 19 || counsel admitted to practice in this Court to appear on Plaintiff's behalf. Failure of Plaintiff || (by way of admitted counsel) to timely file a Response will result in dismissal of all of Plaintiffs claims with prejudice. 22 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, within 21 days of the date of this Order, Plaintiff 23 || (through admitted counsel) shall show cause why all of Plaintiff's claims should not be 24 || dismissed based on its failure to prosecute and meet its obligations in this lawsuit. 25 Dated this 24th day of March, 2023. CN 26 “wok: 97 wefehlee— Unifga State#District Judge 28 _2-