Community Loan Servicing, LLC v. Gonzalez

• Decision Date: 18 January 2022
• Docket Number: Civil Action 7:21-cv-00132
• Parties: COMMUNITY LOAN SERVICING, LLC, Counter-Plaintiff, v. MIGUEL ANGEL HERRERA GONZALEZ, Counter-Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

COMMUNITY LOAN SERVICING, LLC, Counter-Plaintiff,
v.
MIGUEL ANGEL HERRERA GONZALEZ, Counter-Defendant.

Civil Action No. 7:21-cv-00132

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Mcallen Division

January 18, 2022

OPINION AND ORDER

Micaela Alvarez United States District Judge

The Court now considers “Counter-Plaintiff Community Loan Servicing, LLC's Motion for Contempt and Brief in Support, ”^[1] “Counter-Plaintiff Community Loan Servicing, LLC's Notice to Court of Juan Angel Guerra's Failure to Respond to Motion for Contempt, ”^[2] and “Defendant's Opposed Motion for Extension of Time (30 Days) to File Defendant's Response on Motion for Contempt.”^[3]

Counter-Plaintiff Community filed a motion to hold Counter-Defendant's counsel Juan Angel Guerra in contempt of court on December 21, 2021.^[4] Under Local Rule 7.4.A, as Mr. Guerra's counsel Larry Warner admits, ^[5] was January 11th. On January 14th, in the absence of any response by Mr. Guerra, Community notified the Court of Mr. Guerra's failure to timely respond to Community's motion for sanctions.^[6] On January 18th, seven days after Mr. Guerra's response deadline, Mr. Guerra filed the instant motion to extend Mr. Guerra's time to respond by thirty

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days, ^[7] presumably to February 17th, which would be fifty-eight days after Community's motion was filed.

Although Juan Angel Guerra's motion to extend the time for him to file a response to the motion for sanctions is opposed, ^[8] the Court exercises its discretion under Local Rule 7.8 to consider the motion now because it is easily resolved.

After considering the motions, record, and relevant authorities, the Court GRANTS Counter-Plaintiff Community's motion and DENIES Mr. Guerra's motion to extend the time to respond.

I. Background and Motion to Extend Time

On August 16, 2021, this Court issued its opinion and order adjudicating Community's motion for sanctions.^[9] The Court rejected counsel Juan Angel Guerra's arguments and imposed $26, 415.96 in sanctions against Mr. Guerra for repeated violations of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 13.^[10] The Court ordered Mr. Guerra to pay 10% of the sanctions and file a statement of compliance by August 25th.^[11] Instead of doing so, Mr. Guerra failed to pay any amount and unseasonably sought an extension on August 26th, violating Local Rule 7.1.D by his failure to confer with Community in the process.^[12] The Court nevertheless granted Mr. Guerra an extension to September 7th to tender his initial payment.^[13] Mr. Guerra subsequently failed to tender any payment or even a proposed payment schedule as ordered, so on

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September 8th, the Court adopted Community's proposed payment schedule and ordered Mr. Guerra to pay sanctions according to the following schedule^[14]:

PAYMENT AMOUNTS	DEADLINES
$6, 604.00	October 1, 2021
$3, 962.40	November 1, 2021
$3, 962.40	December 1, 2021
$3, 962.40	January 1, 2022
$3, 962.40	February 1, 2022
$3, 962.36	March 1, 2022

Mr. Guerra noticed an appeal of the sanctions issue on October 6th.^[15] On November 5th, Mr. Guerra moved for reconsideration of sanctions in district court, ^[16] but the Court denied reconsideration.^[17]

In the instant motion filed on December 21, 2021, Community reveals that Mr. Guerra has not made any of the first three payments in accordance with the Court's sanctions schedule.^[18]Instead, shockingly, Mr. Guerra filed yet another action re-urging his frivolous claims on behalf of his same homeowner client against Community.^[19] Mr. Guerra subsequently failed to timely respond to Community's instant motion for sanctions, or presumably to tender the payment due on January 1st.

On January 18th, Mr. Guerra's counsel requested an additional thirty days to respond to Community's motion for contempt.^[20] As explained above, Mr. Guerra's motion...