De Los Reyes v. Walmart Inc.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JENNIFER DE LOS REYES, an Case No.: 24-CV-1319 JLS (KSC) individual,
ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’
Plaintiff, NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S DEATH vs.
WALMART, INC., a Delaware 15 corporation; WAL-MART
ASSOCIATES, INC., a Delaware
corporation; and DOES 1-50, inclusive, (ECF No. 13) Defendants.
On September 17, 2024, the Court received a Notice of Plaintiff’s Death by Plaintiff’s counsel. ECF No. 9. Plaintiff’s counsel indicated the Notice was “not intended as a motion for substitution on behalf of a successor or representative under Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1),” as “Plaintiff’s counsel is not a party to this action and he lacks authority to represent De Los Reyes after her death.” Id. at 2 (citing to Woodson v. City of Richmond, Va., No. 3:13CV134, 2014 WL 7462509, at *1 (E.D. Va. Dec. 31, 2014), which holds that a deceased party’s lawyer lacks authority to file a statement of death because under Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)…