Generally, corporations have to be represented to appear in Federal Court, or they are at risk of default. This is something that comes up surprisingly often, including when corporate defendants try to file their own filings without an attorney (by mailing them to the clerks' office), or when counsel for a corporate defendant seeks to withdraw mid-case.
Judge Fallon issued an opinion today showing the consequences of a corporation failing to retain counsel. Plaintiff brought suit and, requested entry of default after a corporate defendant failed to answer. That corporate defendant then filed an "answer"—which, based on the docket, was not an answer at all, in that it did not respond to plaintiff's claims. Plaintiff then moved to strike the answer.
Judge Fallon issued an R&R recommending that the Court strike the defendant's answer:
It is well-settled that a corporation must be represented by counsel and cannot be represented by an individual actingpro se on its behalf. . . . The record before the court confirms that Defendants are not represented by counsel. Nonetheless, a representative of Defendants filed an answer to SABT's amended complaint as well as a response to SABT's motion to strike. . . . I recommend that the court grant SABT's motion to strike Defendants' answer to the amended complaint.
She also recommended entry of default, for three separate reasons - the answer was late, it came with no request for an extension of time, and the corporate defendant was unrepresented:
Defendants did not file any form of responsive pleading until after SABT filed its request for entry of default noting that the time for Defendants to respond had expired. . . . In addition to being procedurally improper for the reasons stated at § II.A, supra, the answer filed by Defendants was not accompanied by a request for extension of time to file a responsive pleading or any refutation of SABT's request for entry of default indicating that the time for filing a responsive pleading expired. . . .
Moreover, Defendants have been on notice of the requirement for corporate defendants to retain counsel at least since being served with SABT's July 20, 2021 motion to strike, yet they have failed to retain counsel in the ensuing months. . . . Because no proper responsive pleading is on the record and Defendants have not yet properly entered an appearance in this matter, entry of default for "fail[ure] to plead or otherwise defend" is warranted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a).
So, don't try to go unrepresented as a corporate defendant in federal court in Delaware. And, if you miss the answer deadline, be sure to stipulate to an extension or ask the Court for relief!
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