OPINION & ORDER Before me are (1) the motion filed on January 26, 2024 by Defendants Remy Jacobson and Jean-Marc Jacobson (“Defendants”) to vacate the Clerk’s Certificate of Default against them, and (2) Plaintiff Tiffany Saidnia’s cross motion, filed on February 9, 2024, for default judgment. Because Defendants have demonstrated good cause for the relief requested, Defendants’ motion to vacate the Clerk’s Certificate of Default is GRANTED, and Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment is DENIED.1 I. Factual and Procedural Background For the purposes of this motion, I assume familiarity with the background of this case as described in my prior October 24, 2023 Opinion & Order, (Doc. 63), denying Defendants’ motion to dismiss. Therefore, I describe only the history relevant to the instant motion. On September 17, 2021, Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a complaint. (Doc. 1.) Pursuant to my October 1, 2021 Order directing Plaintiff to “file affidavits or an amended complaint adequately establishing the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction,” (Doc. 12), Plaintiff filed an affidavit, (Doc. 13), and her amended complaint, (Doc. 14, “Amended Complaint” or “Am. Compl.”), on October 5, 2021. On February 3, 2022, Defendants filed their motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, (Doc. 32), as well as an accompanying memorandum of law, (Doc. 33).2 Plaintiff filed her memorandum in opposition to Defendants’ motion to dismiss on March 17, 2022, (Doc. 52), and on April 8, 2022, Defendants filed their reply memorandum, (Doc. 58). On October 24, 2023, I issued an Opinion & Order denying Defendants’ motion to dismiss and directed Defendants to answer the Amended Complaint within fourteen days from the entry of that order. (Doc. 63.) On November 3, 2023, I entered an Order extending the time for Defendants to answer the Amended Complaint to on or before December 7, 2023. (Doc. 66.) On December 4, 2023, three days before Defendants’ answer was due, Defendants’ prior counsel (“Prior Counsel”) moved to withdraw. (Doc. 67.) On December 5, 2023, before granting Prior Counsel’s motion to withdraw, I issued an Order directing Prior Counsel to “serve defendants with the motion to withdraw and declaration in support thereof, (Docs. 67, 68), or, if service has been affected, to file an affidavit of service.” (Doc. 69.) Prior Counsel filed the affidavit of service on December 11, 2023, which reflected that the motion papers were sent by FedEx overnight mail to Defendants on December 6, 2023, and that Prior Counsel had received confirmation on December 7, 2023 that each mailing had been delivered. (Doc. 71
5-6.) On December 12, 2023, I granted Prior Counsel’s motion to withdraw. On December 21, 2023, Plaintiff filed a Proposed Clerk’s Certificate of Default against Defendants due to their failure to timely answer, (Doc. 73), which the Clerk of Court entered on December 22, 2023, (Doc. 75, “Certificate of Default”). On December 27, 2023, I issued an Order directing Plaintiff to take action in accordance with its Individual Rule 4.H governing default judgments within thirty days. (Doc. 76.) Thus, the deadline for Plaintiff to move for default judgment was January 26, 2024. Although Defendants’ current counsel (“Current Counsel”) did not file a notice of appearance until January 19, 2024, (Doc. 77), while in the process of being retained, Current Counsel contacted Plaintiff’s counsel and informed him that Defendants intended to move to vacate the Certificate of Default. (Doc. 81-3, “Kaplan Decl.” 3.) The parties then discussed extending the deadline for Plaintiff to move for default judgment in order to facilitate a potential resolution of the dispute. (Id.
