(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 SETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 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 has determined that this case will benefit from a settlement conference. 20 Therefore, this case will be referred to Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota to conduct a settlement 21 conference on October 27, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. The settlement conference will be conducted by 22 remote means, with all parties appearing by Zoom video conference. The Court will issue the 23 necessary transportation order in due course. 24 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 25 1. This case is set for a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota 26 on October 27, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. The settlement conference will be conducted by 27 remote means, with all parties appearing by Zoom video conference. 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 October 9 20, 2022 to dmcorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff shall mail his confidential 10 settlement statement Attn: Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cota, USDC CAED, 2986 11 Bechelli Lane, Suite 300, Redding, California 96002 so it arrives no later than October 12 20, 2022. The envelope shall be marked “CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT 13 STATEMENT.” Parties are also directed to file a “Notice of Submission of 14 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 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 Fth.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 1 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, 1.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. Asummary 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. Ifthe 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 Clerk of the Court is directed to serve a copy of this order on the Litigation Office 24 at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility via facsimile at (619) 671-7566 or via email. 25 || Dated: August 1, 2022. 26 □□ PDEA EDMUND F. BRENNAN 27 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 28