(PC) Lewis v. Velasquez-Miranda ( 2022 )

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 DARONTA TYRONE LEWIS, No. 2:21-cv-0932-TLN-EFB (PC) 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. ORDER RESETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE AND PROCEDURES 15 M. VELASQUEZ-MIRANDA, et al., 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 19 U.S.C. §1983. The Court determined that this case would benefit from a settlement conference 20 and referred the case to Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota for a settlement conference. ECF No. 21 86. Due to the unavailability of the Court, and on the Court’s own motion, this case will be 22 referred to Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean to conduct a settlement conference on October 27, 23 2022 at 1:30 p.m. The settlement conference will be conducted by remote means, with all parties 24 appearing by Zoom video conference. The Court will issue the necessary transportation order in 25 due course. 26 ///// 27 ///// 28 ///// 2 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 3 1. The settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota set for October 4 27, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. is VACATED and this case is referred to Magistrate Judge Erica 5 P. Grosjean for a settlement conference set for October 27, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. The 6 settlement conference will be conducted by remote means, with all parties appearing 7 by Zoom video conference. 8 2. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 9 settlement on the defendants’ behalf shall attend in person1. Unless otherwise 10 permitted in advance by the Court, the attorneys who will try the case shall appear at 11 the settlement conference. It is recommended that pertinent evidence to be offered at 12 trial, documents or otherwise, be brought to the settlement conference for presentation 13 to the settlement judge. Neither the settlement conference statements nor 14 communications during the settlement conference with the settlement judge can be 15 used by either party in the trial of this case. 16 3. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses and damages. 17 The failure of any counsel, party or authorized person subject to this order to appear in 18 person may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference will not 19 proceed and will be reset to another date. Absent permission from the Court, in 20 addition to counsel who will try the case being present, the individual parties shall also 21 22 1 23 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 24 conferences… .” Unittehd States v. United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, 694 F.3d 1051, 1053, 1057, 1059 (9 Cir. 2012)(“the district court has broad authority to compel participation in mandatory settlement conference[s].”). The term “full authority to settle” means that the individuals attending the 25 mediation conference must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any 26 settlemthent terms acceptable to the parties. G. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 tFh.2d 648, 653 (7 Cir. 1989), cited with approval in Official Airline Guides, Inc. v. Goss, 6 F.3d 1385, 1396 (9 Cir. 1993). The individual with full authority to settle must also have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the 27 settlement position of the party, if appropriate. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485-86 (D. Ariz. 2003), amended on recon. in part, Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 2003 WL 23353478 (D. Ariz. 2003). The 28 purpose behind requiring the attendance of a person with full settlement authority is that the parties’ view of the case may be altered during the face to face conference. Pitman, 216 F.R.D. at 486. An authorization to 2 be present. In the case of corporate parties, associations or other entities, and 3 insurance carriers, a representative executive with authority to discuss, consider, 4 propose and agree, or disagree, to any settlement proposal or offer shall also be 5 present. A representative with unlimited authority shall either attend in person or be 6 available by phone throughout the conference. In other words, having settlement 7 authority “up to a certain amount” is not acceptable. IF ANY PARTY BELIEVES 8 THAT A SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE WOULD BE FUTILE, THEN THAT 9 PARTY SHALL CONTACT THE COURT NOT LATER THAN SEVENTY- 10 TWO HOURS PRECEDING THE SCHEDULED SETTLEMENT 11 CONFERENCE. 12 4. Parties are directed to submit confidential settlement statements no later than October 13 20, 2022 to epgorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff shall mail his confidential 14 settlement statement Attn: Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean, USDC CAED, 2500 15 Tulare Street, Room 1501, Fresno, California 93721, so it arrives no later than October 16 20, 2022. The envelope shall be marked “CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT 17 STATEMENT.” Parties are also directed to file a “Notice of Submission of 18 Confidential Settlement Statement” (See L.R. 270(d)). 19 20 Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of the Court nor served on 21 any other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked “confidential” with 22 the date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 23 24 The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length, 25 typed or neatly printed, and include the following: 26 27 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 28 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, i.e., statutory or other grounds upon 1 2 which the claims are founded; a forthright evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of 3 prevailing on the claims and defenses; and a description of the major issues in 4 dispute. 5 c. Asummary of the proceedings to date. 6 d. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and 7 trial. 8 e. The relief sought. 9 f. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a 10 history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. 11 g. Ifthe parties intend to discuss the joint settlement of any other actions or claims 12 not in this suit, give a brief description of each action or claim as set forth above, 13 including case number(s) if applicable. 14 5. Judge Grosjean or another representative from the Court will be contacting the parties 15 either by telephone or in person, approximately two weeks prior to the settlement 16 conference, to ascertain each party’s expectations of the settlement conference. 17 6. The Clerk of the Court is directed to serve a copy of this order on the Litigation Office 18 at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility via facsimile at (619) 671-7566 or via email. 19 || Dated: August 10, 2022. m4 EDMUND F. BRENNAN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28