UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE

NASHVILLE DIVISION

UNITED STATES COMMODITY

FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION,

Plaintiff, Case Number 15-00928

Honorable David M. Lawson

v. Magistrate Judge Joe Brown

MAVERICK ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC,

RODNEY SCOTT PHELPS, and JASON T.

CASTENIR,

Defendants.

_____________________________________/

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

AND GRANTING MOTION FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT

This matter is before the Court on the report issued on November 19, 2017 by Magistrate

Judge Joe Brown pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b), recommending that the Court grant the

government’s amended motion for entry of default judgment and enter judgment in favor of the

plaintiff against defendants Maverick Asset Management, LLC and Jason Castenir. The magistrate

judge’s report explicitly stated that the parties to this action could object to and seek review of the

recommendation within fourteen days of service of the report. However, no objections have been

filed, and the time for filing them has lapsed. The defendants’ failure to file objections to the report

and recommendation waives any further right to appeal. Smith v. Detroit Fed’n of Teachers Local

231, 829 F.2d 1370, 1373 (6th Cir. 1987). The failure to object to the magistrate judge’s report also

releases the Court from its duty independently to review the matter. Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140,

149 (1985). However, the Court agrees with the findings and conclusions of the magistrate judge

set forth in the report and recommendation, which the Court adopts and incorporates by reference

herein. The Court notes, moreover, that defendants Maverick and Castenir have not appeared in the

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case either in person or through counsel, they have not filed any responsive pleading or any other

papers with the Court since the commencement of this litigation, and their default was entered by

the Clerk of Court on October 27, 2015.

The Court further concludes that, although other claims remain pending against defendant

Rodney Scott Phelps, the injunctive and monetary relief sought by the government against the

defaulted defendants may be granted without implicating the claims against that defendant. 

Moreover, there is good reason for the Court to issue a partial judgment now against the defaulted

defendants only, since the Court has ordered the proceedings against Phelps to be stayed

indefinitely, pending the outcome of the separate criminal proceedings against him in United States

of America v. Rodney Scott Phelps, No. 17-00036 (indictment filed on June 22, 2017). There has

been no suggestion that the criminal case against Phelps is likely to conclude in the imminent future,

and nothing in the record indicates that allowing the government to proceed toward securing its

remedies against the defaulted defendants would obstruct or interfere with the course of the criminal

case or the claims against Phelps in this matter. The Court finds, therefore, that there is no just

reason for delay in entry of a final judgment as to the defaulted defendants only in this case. See

Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b) (“When an action presents more than one claim for relief — whether as a

claim, counterclaim, crossclaim, or third-party claim — or when multiple parties are involved, the

court may direct entry of a final judgment as to one or more, but fewer than all, claims or parties

only if the court expressly determines that there is no just reason for delay.”).

Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation [77]

is ADOPTED.

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It is further ORDERED that the government’s motion for entry of default judgment against

defendants Maverick Asset Management, LLC and Jason Castenir [72] is GRANTED, and a

judgment against those defendants separately shall enter.

s/David M. Lawson 

DAVID M. LAWSON

United States District Judge

Sitting by special designation

Dated: January 16, 2018

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