Thomas v. Montgomery ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ALBERT THOMAS, Case No.: 18-cv-01835-GPC (JLB) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING EX PARTE 13 v. MOTION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER 14 W.L. MONTGOMERY, et al., 15 Defendants. [ECF No. 40] 16 17 18 Before the Court is Defendants’ ex parte motion to modify the scheduling order. 19 (ECF No. 40.) Defendants request a 45-day continuance of the Mandatory Settlement 20 Conference currently scheduled for October 28, 2020. (Id. at 1.) Good cause appearing, 21 the motion is GRANTED. Accordingly, the scheduling order (ECF No. 30) is modified 22 as follows: 23 A Mandatory Settlement Conference shall be conducted on December 16, 2020, at 24 9:00 AM, before Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt in Room 5180 of the Edward J. 25 Schwartz U.S. Courthouse, 221 West Broadway, San Diego, California 92101. Defendants 26 and defense counsel shall personally attend the settlement conference. Plaintiff shall 27 appear by video conference. Counsel for Defendants shall assist in coordinating the 28 arrangements for Plaintiff’s video conference. 1 The parties or their counsel, if represented, shall LODGE confidential settlement 2 statements in accordance with Magistrate Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules no later 3 than December 7, 2020. The confidential settlement statements should be lodged by e- 4 mail to efile_Burkhardt@casd.uscourts.gov. However, if e-mail is unavailable, settlement 5 conference statements may be lodged by mail to the U.S. District Court, Southern District 6 of California, Office of the Clerk, Attn: Magistrate Judge Burkhardt’s Chambers, 333 West 7 Broadway, Suite 420, San Diego, California 92101. Settlement conference statements 8 shall not be filed via the CM/ECF system. Settlement conference statements may be 9 exchanged confidentially with opposing counsel within the parties’ discretion. 10 Each party’s settlement statement shall concisely set forth the following: (1) the 11 party’s statement of the case; (2) the controlling legal issues; (3) issues of liability and 12 damages; (4) the party’s settlement position, including the last offer or demand made by 13 that party; (5) a separate statement of the offer or demand the party is prepared to make at 14 the settlement conference; and (6) a list of all attorney and non-attorney attendees for the 15 Conference, including person(s) and their title(s) or position(s) with the party who will 16 attend and have settlement authority at the conference. If exhibits are attached and the total 17 submission amounts to more than 20 pages, a hard copy must also be delivered directly to 18 Magistrate Judge Burkhardt’s chambers. 19 Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 16.3, all party representatives and claims adjusters for 20 insured defendants with full and unlimited authority1 to negotiate and enter into a binding 21 22 23 1 “Full authority to settle” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time 24 to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph 25 Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648 (7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 26 216 F.R.D. 481, 485-86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited 27 settlement authority to attend the conference includes that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the face to face conference. Id. at 486. A limited or a sum certain 28 1 || settlement, as well as the principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, must be present 2 legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case at the mandatory 3 settlement conference. In the case of a corporate entity, an authorized representative of the 4 ||corporation who is not retained outside counsel must be present and must have 5 || discretionary authority to commit the company to pay an amount up to the amount of the 6 || Plaintiff's prayer, excluding punitive damages prayers. The purpose of this requirement is 7 have representatives present who can settle the case during the course of the conference 8 || without consulting a superior. 9 Failure to attend the conference or obtain proper excuse will be considered grounds 10 || for sanctions. 11 IT IS SO ORDERED. 12 || Dated: October 23, 2020 13 bende 14 n. Jill L. Burkhardt 15 ited States Magistrate Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28