U.S. Magistrate Judge Emile A. Henderson III has ordered the attorney representing the UVI Research and Technology Park in a whistleblower lawsuit to appear for a “show cause” hearing April 25 to explain why they shouldn’t be sanctioned for missing the court’s deadline to answer an amended complaint in the case.
Henderson issued the order Tuesday in V.I. District Court on St. Croix, while at the same time granting the RTPark up until April 22 to file a responsive pleading to former CEO Peter Chapman’s second amended complaint that had been due last Friday.
“The Court granted that out-of-time request because the remedy when a party fails to timely respond to a complaint is the entry of default and default judgment, which the Third Circuit has repeatedly held is disfavored when a case can be resolved on the merits,” Henderson wrote. “However, that does not excuse the fact that Defendants failed to adhere to a deadline set by this Court and only sought leave to obtain a new deadline after the original deadline had lapsed.”
Henderson noted that the court may issue sanctions to a party or attorney that “fails to obey a . . . pretrial order,” citing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 16(f)(1)(C).
According to the order, RTPark attorney Michelle Meade sought an extension because Chapman filed a complaint against the park in a separate but related matter April 3 and “the parties sought to potentially consolidate the cases and streamline the actions before Defendants filed their...
A Guatemalan national residing in the U.S. illegally has been indicted for his alleged role in smuggling a 14-year-old girl into the country. Juan Tiul Xi, 26, was indicted on Thursday for alleged...