Lombrana-Perez v. Williams, 6:16-cv-01842

Plaintiff Enrique Lombrana-Perez, a pretrial detainee, sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deliberate indifference to medical needs and excessive force; two defendants (Sheffield-Wilkes and Victor Basily) remained after an earlier dismissal.
Summonses were returned executed in June 2016 but Defendants did not file answers; the magistrate issued orders directing them to respond and to show cause, which went unanswered.
The district court entered default against Defendants on March 30, 2017; Plaintiff then moved for default judgment under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b).
At a December 14, 2017 hearing, Defendants appeared pro se, asserted they had not been served earlier and only learned of the suit when served with the hearing notice, and orally moved to set aside the default.
The magistrate recommended granting Defendants’ oral motion to set aside default and denying Plaintiff’s default-judgment motions; the district court reviewed de novo, agreed, and set deadlines for Defendants to answer within 30 days.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether to set aside the clerk's entry of default under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(c)	Default should remain until Defendants file answers; reinstate default until they respond	They were unaware of the suit until the hearing notice, appeared promptly, and seek to defend on the merits	Default set aside for good cause; motions for default judgment denied
Whether Defendants acted with reasonable promptness	Plaintiff contends delay warrants default	Defendants promptly moved to set aside once they learned of suit and appeared at hearing	Court finds Defendants acted with reasonable promptness
Prejudice to Plaintiff from setting aside default	Plaintiff asserted prejudice from delay and lack of response	Defendants argued minimal prejudice and preference for adjudication on merits	Court concludes any prejudice is outweighed by policy favoring merits and availability of lesser sanctions
Request for transcript of hearing	Plaintiff requested transcript of Dec. 14, 2017 hearing	Court notes no transcript had been prepared and directs clerk to inform Plaintiff how to obtain court documents	Motion for transcript denied as no transcript exists; clerk to provide guidance

Mathews v. Weber, 423 U.S. 261 (1976) (magistrate judge reports are recommendations subject to de novo review on objections)
Tolson v. Hodge, 411 F.2d 123 (1969) (default-setting standards favor resolving cases on the merits)
Payne v. Brake, 439 F.3d 198 (4th Cir. 2006) (factors for setting aside default include meritorious defense, promptness, responsibility, prejudice, history of dilatory conduct, and alternatives)