(PC) Quarles v. California State Prison Corcoran ( 2022 )

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 NIKKO JAVOR QUARLES, Case No. 1:19-cv-00109-AWI-HBK 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. ORDER SETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 15 J. VELASQUEZ, et al., 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff Nikko Javor Quarles is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis 19 in this civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983. The Court refers all civil rights cases 20 filed by pro se individuals to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to attempt to resolve such 21 cases more expeditiously and less expensively. See also Local Rule 270. In appropriate cases, 22 defense counsel from the California Attorney General’s Office have agreed to participate in ADR. 23 No claims, defenses, or objections are waived by the parties’ participation. 24 Attempting to resolve this matter through settlement now would save the parties the time 25 and expense of engaging in discovery and preparing substantive dispositive motions. The Court 26 therefore will STAY this action for 90 days to allow the parties to participate in an early 27 settlement conference. The Court presumes that all post-screening civil rights cases assigned to 28 the undersigned will proceed to a settlement conference. 2 Therefore, this case will be referred to Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota to conduct a 3 settlement conference on April 7, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. The settlement conference will be conducted 4 by remote means, with all parties appearing by Zoom video conference. The Court will issue the 5 necessary transportation order in due course. 6 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 7 1. This action is STAYED for 90 days to allow the parties an opportunity to settle their 8 dispute. No pleadings or motions may be filed in this case during the stay, and the 9 parties shall not engage in formal discovery. 10 2. This case is set for a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota 11 on April 7, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. The settlement conference will be conducted by remote 12 means, with all parties appearing by Zoom video conference. 13 3. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 14 settlement on the defendants’ behalf shall attend in person1. 15 4. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses and damages. 16 The failure of any counsel, party or authorized person subject to this order to appear in 17 person may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference will not 18 proceed and will be reset to another date. 19 5. Parties are directed to submit confidential settlement statements no later than March 20 31, 2022 to dmcorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff shall mail his confidential 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. 26 1993). 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 27 (D. Ariz. 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’ 28 view of 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 settlement statement Attn: Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota, USDC CAED, 2986 3 Bechelli Lane, Suite 300, Redding, California 96002 so it arrives no later than March 4 31, 2022. The envelope shall be marked “CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT 5 STATEMENT.” Parties are also directed to file a “Notice of Submission of 6 Confidential Settlement Statement” (See L.R. 270(d)). 7 8 Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of the Court nor served on 9 any other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked “confidential” with 10 the date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 11 12 The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length, 13 typed or neatly printed, and include the following: 14 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 15 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, i.e., statutory or other grounds upon 16 which the claims are founded; a forthright evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of 17 prevailing on the claims and defenses; and a description of the major issues in 18 dispute. 19 c. A summary of the proceedings to date. 20 d. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and 21 trial. 22 e. The relief sought. 23 f. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a 24 history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. 25 g. A brief statement of each party’s expectations and goals for the settlement 26 conference, including how much a party is willing to accept and/or willing to pay. 27 h. If the parties intend to discuss the joint settlement of any other actions or claims 28 not in this suit, give a brief description of each action or claim as set forth above, 1 2 including case number(s) if applicable. 3 6. Judge Cota or another representative from the court will be contacting the parties 4 either by telephone or in person, approximately two weeks prior to the settlement 5 conference, to ascertain each party’s expectations of the settlement conference. 6 7. The Clerk of the Court is directed to serve a copy of this order on the Litigation Office 7 at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County via facsimile at (661) 729-6994 or 8 via email. 9 10) Dated: _ January 11,2022 Wile. Th fareh Zack 41 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA 1 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28