For these reasons, and the fact that the delay has only been a few months, Plaintiff has failed to establish that he would suffer any prejudice if default is set aside and the matter proceeds on the merits. Accordingly, this factor weighs in Wong’s favor. 4. Alternative Sanctions A district court should also consider whether there are any sanctions less drastic than a default that are both available and effective. Payne, 439 F.3d at 204-05. Courts have commonly imposed alternative monetary sanctions on attorneys who are responsible for a party’s default. See GNB, Inc. v. Tropex, Inc., 849 F.2d 605, 1988 WL 60618, at *2 (4th Cir.1988) (unpublished table decision) (alternative sanction of attorney’s fees appropriate where attorney is at fault for delay); Lolatchy, 816 F.2d at 953-54 (<HOLDING>); Smith v. Bounds, 813 F.2d 1299, 1304 (4th
holding district court abused its discretion by entering default judgment where attorney caused delay and sanctions short of default such as costs attorneys fees or contempt of court would have likely cured the attorneys failure to respond holding that trial court must make entry of default prior to entry of default judgment and court may not make entry of default when there is no default in law or in fact holding that trial court erred by imposing sanctions against attorney without notice and hearing but error was cured by attorneys subsequent challenge to sanctions holding that the district court abused its discretion by failing to award attorneys fees based on the objective unreasonableness of plaintiffs complaint holding that district court did not abuse its discretion by entering default judgment without first holding evidentiary hearing where there was no uncertainty about the amounts at issue the pleadings contained specific dollar figures and the court requested and received affidavits in support of the default judgment