(PC) Faultry v. Saechao ( 2020 )

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CHARLES FAULTRY, No. 2:18-cv-1850 KJM AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER and 14 J. SAECHAO, et al., ORDER SETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983. 18 The court has determined that this case will benefit from a settlement conference. Therefore, this 19 case will be referred to Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota to conduct a settlement conference on 20 November 12, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. The settlement conference will be conducted by remote means, 21 to be determined at a later date and time. The Court will issue the necessary transportation order 22 in due course. 23 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 24 1. This case is set for a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Dennis M. 25 Cota on November 12, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. The settlement conference will be 26 conducted by remote means, to be determined at a later date and time. 27 //// 28 //// 2 2. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 3 settlement on the defendants’ behalf shall attend in person1. 4 3. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses and damages. 5 The failure of any counsel, party or authorized person subject to this order to appear in 6 person may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference will not 7 proceed and will be reset to another date. 8 4. Parties are directed to submit confidential settlement statements no later than 9 November 5, 2020 to dmcorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff shall mail his 10 confidential settlement statement to Attn: Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota, USDC 11 CAED, 2986 Bechelli Lane, Suite 300, Redding, California 96002 so it arrives no later 12 than November 5, 2020. The envelope shall be marked “CONFIDENTIAL 13 SETTLEMENT STATEMENT.” Parties are also directed to file a “Notice of 14 Submission of Confidential Settlement Statement” (See L.R. 270(d)). 15 16 Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of the Court nor served on 17 any other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked “confidential” with 18 the date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 19 //// 20 //// 21 22 1 While the exercise of its authority is subject to abuse of discretion review, “the district court has the authority to order parties, including the federal government, to participate in mandatory settlement 23 conferences… .” United States v. United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, 694 F.3d 1051, 1053, 1057, 1059 (9th Cir. 2012)(“the district court has broad authority to compel participation in mandatory 24 settlement conference[s].”). The term “full authority to settle” means that the individuals attending the mediation conference must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any 25 settlement terms acceptable to the parties. G. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989), cited with approval in Official Airline Guides, Inc. v. Goss, 6 F.3d 1385, 1396 (9th Cir. 1993). 26 The individual with full authority to settle must also have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of the party, if appropriate. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485-86 (D. Ariz. 27 2003), amended on recon. in part, Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 2003 WL 23353478 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose behind requiring the attendance of a person with full settlement authority is that the parties’ view of 28 the case may be altered during the face to face conference. Pitman, 216 F.R.D. at 486. An authorization to settle for a limited dollar amount or sum certain can be found not to comply with the requirement of full authority to settle. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 596-97 (8th Cir. 2001). 2 The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length, 3 typed or neatly printed, and include the following: 4 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 5 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, i.e., statutory or other grounds upon 6 which the claims are founded; a forthright evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of 7 prevailing on the claims and defenses; and a description of the major issues in 8 dispute. 9 c. A summary of the proceedings to date. 10 d. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and 11 trial. 12 e. The relief sought. 13 f. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a 14 history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. 15 g. A brief statement of each party’s expectations and goals for the settlement 16 conference, including how much a party is willing to accept and/or willing to pay. 17 h. If the parties intend to discuss the joint settlement of any other actions or claims 18 not in this suit, give a brief description of each action or claim as set forth above, 19 including case number(s) if applicable. 20 5. Judge Cota or another representative from the court will be contacting the parties 21 either by telephone or in person, approximately two weeks prior to the settlement 22 conference, to ascertain each party’s expectations of the settlement conference. 23 6. The deadline for filing a Joint Pretrial Statement (November 20, 2020) and date 24 for convening a status conference re: trial setting (February 12, 2021), set by 25 order filed October 6, 2020 (ECF No. 42), shall remain in place pending further 26 order of this court. 27 //// 28 //// 1 2 7. The Clerk of the Court is directed to serve a copy of this order on the Litigation Office 3 at California State Prison, Sacramento, via facsimile at (916) 294-3072 or via email. 4 || DATED: October 9, 2020 ~ 5 Hthren— Llane ALLISON CLAIRE 6 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28