(PC) Brummett v. Sherman ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MELVIN RAY BRUMMETT JR., Case No. 1:20-cv-00622-HBK (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER SCHEDULING SETTLEMENT CONFEFENCE FOR TUESDAY, 13 v. NOVEMBER 28, 2023 AT 1 P.M. 14 E. AGUIRRE, G. BEARD, P. GARCIA, D. LOPEZ, NKIRUKA NDU, and STUART 15 SHERMAN, 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights 19 action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On June 16, 2023, the Court issued an Order staying 20 the case and referring the matter to the Court’s early Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) 21 program. (Doc. No. 29). The Order set a deadline of September 15, 2023 for the Parties to 22 inform the Court if they wished to opt out of the early ADR program. (Id. at 2). Neither party 23 has filed a notice to opt out of the ADR program and the time to do so has passed. (See docket). 24 Therefore, this case is referred to Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean to conduct a settlement 25 conference, which is scheduled to occur on November 28, 2023, at 1 p.m. 26 Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that: 27 1. A settlement conference is scheduled to occur on November 28, 2023, at 1 p.m., 28 before Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean. The conference shall be conducted via 1 Zoom videoconference and shall last up to three hours. 2 2. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 3 settlement agreement shall attend.1 4 3. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses, and damages at 5 issue in the case. The failure of any counsel, party, or authorized person subject to this 6 order to appear may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference 7 will not proceed and will be reset to another date. 8 4. Defendants shall provide a confidential settlement statement no later than November 9 21, 2023, to the following email address: epgorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff 10 shall mail his confidential settlement statement, clearly captioned “Confidential 11 Settlement Conference Statement,” Attn: Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean, United 12 States District Court, 2500 Tulare Street, Room 1501, Fresno, CA 93721 so that it 13 arrives no later than November 21, 2023. Parties shall also file a Notice of 14 Submission of Confidential Settlement Conference Statement (see Local Rule 270(d)). 15 5. Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of Court nor served on any 16 other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked “confidential” with the 17 date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 18 6. The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length, 19 typed or neatly printed, and include the following: 20 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 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 conferences….” United States 23 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 settlement conference[s].”). The term 24 “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 settlement terms acceptable to the parties. G. Heileman 25 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). 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 26 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 purpose behind requiring the attendance of a person with full settlement 27 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 settle for a limited dollar amount or sum certain can be found not to comply with the 28 requirement of full authority to settle. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 596-97 (8th Cir. 2001). 1 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, 1.e., statutory or other grounds upon 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. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and 6 trial. 7 d. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a 8 history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. 9 e. A brief statement of the party’s expectations and goals for the settlement 10 conference, including how much the party is willing to accept and/or willing to 11 pay. 12 f. Ifthe parties intend to discuss the joint settlement of any other actions or claims 13 not in this suit, a brief description of each action or claim as set forth above, 14 including case number(s) if applicable. 15 7. The Clerk of Court is directed to serve a copy of this order on the Litigation Office at 16 California Substance Abuse Training Facility. 17 | Dated: _ September 25, 2023 Mihaw. fares Zackte 19 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 Cc: Michelle Rooney, CRD 23 24 25 26 27 28