SZY Holdings, LLC v. Rico Garcia

USCA4 Appeal: 25-1123 Doc: 36 Filed: 10/09/2025 Pg: 1 of 3 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 25-1123 SZY HOLDINGS, LLC; FARFROMBORINGPROMOTIONS.COM, LLC, Plaintiffs - Appellees, v. RICO GARCIA; HAMSA HOLDINGS, LLC, Defendants - Appellants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Michael Stefan Nachmanoff, District Judge. (1:20-cv-01475-MSN-JFA) Submitted: July 21, 2025 Decided: October 9, 2025 Before WYNN, RICHARDSON, and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges. Dismissed in part and affirmed in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Rico Garcia, Appellant Pro Se. Robert C. Gill, II, Washington, D.C., Daniel M. Moore, SAUL EWING LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 25-1123 Doc: 36 Filed: 10/09/2025 Pg: 2 of 3 PER CURIAM: Rico Garcia and Hamsa Holdings, LLC, (“Appellants”) noted an appeal from the district court’s order determining that they cannot invoke the arbitration clause in an agreement between Botani Labs, LLC, and IPF Sourcing to compel SZY Holdings, LLC, and FarFromBoringPromotions.com, LLC (“Appellees”), to submit their claims to arbitration. Appellants have moved for sanctions against their former attorney and to strike Appellees’ informal response brief. Christina Stone, purporting to be “next friend” of Garcia, has filed a motion to stay the appeal. We deny all three pending motions. In a February 21, 2025, notice, this court informed Appellants that a corporation may appear in this court only through a licensed attorney. The notice directed Appellants to “provid[e] us with the name, address, and phone number of counsel who will represent the corporation on appeal” and admonished that “the corporation will not be considered a party to the appeal” if Appellants failed to file the status of counsel form by March 3, 2025. Appellants failed to provide this court notice of new counsel, and no counsel has entered an appearance on behalf of Hamsa Holdings, LLC. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal as to Hamsa Holdings. See Rowland v. Cal. Men’s Colony, 506 U.S. 194, 201-02 (1993) (“It has been the law for the better part of two centuries, . . . that a corporation may appear in the federal courts only through licensed counsel.”). As to Garcia’s appeal, we have reviewed the record and the arguments presented on appeal, and we find no reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. SZY Holdings, LLC v. Garcia, No. 1:20-cv-01475-MSN-JFA (E.D. Va. filed Jan. 6, 2025 & entered Jan. 8, 2025). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal 2 USCA4 Appeal: 25-1123 Doc: 36 Filed: 10/09/2025 Pg: 3 of 3 contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED IN PART, AFFIRMED IN PART 3