Hansen v. Equifax Information Services, LLC

USDC SDNY DOCUMENT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ELECTRONICALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOC #: Sanne KK DATE FILED:_01/07/2025 LUCILLE HANSEN, : Plaintiff, : : 24-cv-10029 (LJL) -v- : : ORDER TRANS UNION LLC, EQUIFAX INFORMATION : SERVICES, LLC, EXPERIAN INFORMATION : SOLUTIONS, INC. : Defendants. : wee KX LEWIS J. LIMAN, United States District Judge: Defendant Trans Union LLC (“TransUnion”) moves for the Court to compel Plaintiff Lucille Hansen to serve and file a complaint and to set a deadline for defendants to answer. Dkt. No. 4. Plaintiff has not yet filed a complaint in this case, which was removed from the Superme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, on December 31, 2024. Dkt. No. 1. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) requires a plaintiff to serve the complaint on the defendant within 90 days after the complaint is filed. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m). A number of courts have held that as applied to a removed action, this means that service of the complaint must be made within 90 days after the action is removed. See, e.g., G.G.G. Pizza, Inc. v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., 67 F. Supp. 2d 99, 102 (E.D.N.Y. 1999); The Lee Fam. v. Int'l Paper Co., 2010 WL 2949635 , at *3 (D. Vt. July 23, 2010); Yaman v. D'Angelo, 206 F. Supp. 2d 394, 401 (W.D.N.Y. 2002). Moreover, because Rule 81 does not require a defendant to answer in a removed case until “21 days after receiving—through service or otherwise—a copy of the initial pleading stating the claim for relief,” this case cannot progress until a complaint is served. Fed. R. Civ. P. 81(¢)(2)(A). Therefore, Plaintiff is ORDERED to file and serve a complaint by March 31, 2025. By agreement of the parties, defendants shall have 30 days to answer or otherwise respond after service of the complaint. SO ORDERED. <_fL oe 2 Dated: January 7, 2025 AP New York, New York LEWIS J. LIMAN United States District Judge