Matloob v. Farhan, 1:11-cv-01943

Sana Farhan, a Pakistani citizen, sues Omar Farhan and Malik Khizar to enforce I-864 affidavits of support.
Sana and Farhan married in Pakistan in 2009; marriage was largely non-consummated and involved family-arranged dynamics.
Sana arrived in the U.S. in 2010; the I-864 affidavits were signed to obtain her immigrant status, with Khizar joining as a joint sponsor due to Farhan's insufficient income.
Sana filed suit to enforce the affidavits in 2011; Farhan answered and default was entered on Sana’s motion, with Khizar not answering.
Sana sought summary judgment; Farhan asserted fraud defenses, arguing fraudulent inducement into the marriage and the affidavits.
The court grants leave for Farhan to file a surreply and denies Sana’s motion for summary judgment; it also denies default judgment against Khizar.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Farhan may file a surreply to Sana's reply	Farhan should be allowed to respond to new evidence	Rule 105.2(a) permits surreply with leave; Sana did not object	Surreply allowed; leave granted
Whether the I-864 affidavits are enforceable against the sponsors	Affidavits are enforceable contracts to support the immigrant	Defense of fraudulent inducement may negate enforceability	Enforceability recognized; fraud defense considered later
Whether fraudulent inducement defeats enforcement of the I-864	Fraudulent inducement undermines consent to the contract	Significant factual disputes exist about the marriage and intent	Material facts disputed; summary judgment denied
Whether default judgment against Khizar is appropriate	Khizar is a sponsor subject to default if he does not respond	Khizar has minimal ties and did not consent to settlement; potential due process concerns	Default judgment denied; Khizar allowed to move to vacate default

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986) (summary judgment standard: genuine issues for trial)
Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens Football Club, Inc., 346 F.3d 514 (4th Cir. 2003) (trial judge must prevent factually unsupported claims from proceeding)
Dow v. Jones, 232 F. Supp. 2d 491 (D. Md. 2002) (strong policy favoring merits-based resolution)
Liu v. Mund, 748 F. Supp. 2d 958 (W.D. Wis. 2010) (application of court-approved authorities to enforce I-864s)
Johns Hopkins Univ. v. Hutton, 488 F.2d 912 (4th Cir. 1973) (contract defenses apply to I-864 enforcement)