Phillips v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PATRICK PHILLIPS, Case No.: 3:24-cv-00136-BEN-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE SETTLEMENT 13 v. DISPOSITION CONFERENCE 14 MERCEDES-BENZ USA, LLC, et al., 15 Defendants. [ECF No. 10] 16 17 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue 18 Settlement Disposition Conference. ECF No. 10. In the Joint Motion, the parties represent 19 that Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (“MBUSA”) sent the settlement agreement to 20 Plaintiff on March 28, 2024, the same day the parties filed their Notice of Settlement. Id. 21 at 2. However, Plaintiff has yet to sign the settlement agreement. Id. MBUSA requires at 22 least 45 days after the settlement agreement is signed to fulfill the settlement terms. Id. 23 Under Fed. R. Civ. P 16(b)(4), “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause 24 and with the judge’s consent.” “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been 25 construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, 26 Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence 27 of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking 28 modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). 1 Here, the parties have failed to show good cause to continue the Settlement 2 || Disposition Conference (“SDC”). The purpose of the SDC is to monitor the status of 3 settlement and to ensure that settled cases are efficiently removed from the Court’s busy 4 || docket. In this case, the parties provide no explanation for why Plaintiff has not signed the 5 settlement agreement more than six weeks after Defendant provided it for his signature. 6 || The circumstances described in the Joint Motion indeed create all the more reason for the 7 || Court to move forward with the SDC as scheduled, to determine if the parties have ongoing 8 || disputes regarding the terms of the settlement or if there are other reasons causing the delay 9 || that the Court may be able to assist in addressing. 10 Accordingly, the Joint Motion is DENIED. The telephonic SDC set for 11 16, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. before the Honorable Allison H. Goddard shall remain on 12 ||calendar as scheduled. Counsel shall call the chambers teleconference line at 1-877-873- 13 |}8018 and use 8367902 as the access code to join the conference. 14 Because the parties provided an update regarding the status of settlement in the Joint 15 || Motion, the May 14 deadline for the parties to provide a joint status report to the Court via 16 |/email is hereby VACATED. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 || Dated: May 10, 2024 19 _Abiomt. Xl Honorable Allison H. Goddard 20 United States Magistrate Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28