When seeking a default judgment, parties often assume that an unanswered complaint puts them in the driver’s seat for a quick and early victory. But as practitioners in the Commercial Division are well aware, courts retain discretion to deny a motion for default judgment if the record raises questions about service or if the defendant
I have a soft spot for civil RICO: treble damages, enterprise allegations, the chance to elevate ordinary fraud into something operatic. But, as many of us have learned, civil RICO is not meant to transform ordinary commercial disputes into racketeering cases. Courts routinely dismiss such claims when plaintiffs fail to meet the statute’s strict pleading