Abe Developments LLC, et al. v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona dismissed the complaint without prejudice after plaintiff Alvin Yono failed to obtain new counsel, comply with court orders, or oppose the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Applying Ninth Circuit failure-to-prosecute factors, the court concluded that defendants would be prejudiced and that dismissal was the only realistically available lesser sanction. The court denied the motion to dismiss as moot and ordered Auto-Owners Insurance Company to address its counterclaims by February 20, 2026.

Holdings

1. A plaintiff's repeated failure to comply with court orders and failure to participate in the action warranted dismissal of the complaint without prejudice.
2. The motion to dismiss was denied as moot because the complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failure to prosecute.
3. Auto-Owners was required either to move to dismiss its counterclaims or to move to strike the plaintiff's answer to the counterclaims so that default judgment could be pursued.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint should be dismissed without prejudice because plaintiff failed to prosecute the action and disregarded multiple court orders.
2. Whether defendants' motion to dismiss should be resolved on its merits after plaintiff failed to oppose it.
3. What procedural step Auto-Owners must take regarding its pending counterclaims.

Disposition

dismissed