Squar Milner v. LeClerc CA1/1

I. BACKGROUND

Defendants Franck LeClerc, Cafe Claude Restaurant, Inc., and six other subchapter S corporations formed by LeClerc hired plaintiff Squar Milner LLP to provide them with tax preparation, consulting, and accounting services. Defendants failed to pay for the services rendered. On January 22, 2019, plaintiff filed suit against defendants, alleging causes of action for breach of contract (written and oral), quantum meruit, and common counts of open book account and account stated. Plaintiff served the summons on the corporate entity defendants on February 4, 2019 and on LeClerc as an individual on March 11, 2019. On March 6, counsel for plaintiff sent a letter to LeClerc stating that none of the defendants had answered the complaint within 30 days as required. The letter requested defendants inform plaintiff’s counsel by March 20 whether they intended to answer, or plaintiff would file a request for entry of default. Defendants did not respond to the letter. On April 2, default was entered with respect to the corporations, and, on May 6, default was entered as to LeClerc as an individual. All parties were served with notice of entry of default. On May 14, counsel for…