Martinez v. National EWP, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL MARTINEZ, an individual, Case No.: 23cv837-RSH(LR) AND JUAN SANCHEZ, an individual, 12 on behalf of themselves and all others ORDER SETTING FOLLOW-UP 13 similarly situated, SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 14 Plaintiffs, 15 v. 16 NATIONAL EWP, INC., et al., 17 Defendants. 18 19 A Settlement Conference was held on January 22, 2025. Pursuant to the 20 discussions with the parties, the Court SETS a follow-up video Settlement Conference 21 (“SC”) for January 30, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. All discussions at the SC will be informal, 22 off the record, privileged, and confidential. The following rules and deadlines apply: 23 a. Appearance via Videoconference Required: All named parties (including 24 those who are indemnified by others), party representatives, including claims adjusters 25 for insured defendants, as well as the principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, 26 must participate in the video conference, and be legally and factually prepared to discuss 27 and resolve the case. Counsel appearing without their clients will be cause for immediate 28 imposition of sanctions and may also result in the immediate termination of the 1 conference. 2 b. Full Settlement Authority Required: A party or party representative with 3 full settlement authority1 must be present at the conference. Retained outside corporate 4 counsel shall not appear on behalf of a corporation as the party representative who has 5 the authority to negotiate and enter a settlement. A government entity may be excused 6 from this requirement so long as the government attorney who attends the SC has 7 (1) primary responsibility for handling the case, and (2) authority to negotiate and 8 recommend settlement offers to the government official(s) having ultimate settlement 9 authority. 10 c. The Court will use its official Zoom video conferencing account to hold the 11 SC. 12 d. Prior to the start of the SC, the Court will e-mail each SC participant an 13 invitation to join a Zoom video conference. 14 e. No later than January 24, 2025, counsel for each party shall send an e-mail to 15 the Court at efile_rodriguez@casd.uscourts.gov containing the following: 16 (1) The name and title of each participant, including all parties 17 and party representatives with full settlement authority, claims adjusters for insured 18 defendants, and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation; 19 (2) An e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom 20 video conference invitation; and 21 (3) A telephone number where each participant may be reached 22 so that if technical difficulties arise, the Court will be able to proceed telephonically instead 23 24 25 1 “Full settlement authority” means that a person is authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Joseph 26 Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (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., 216 F.R.D. 481, 27 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). Limited or a sum certain authority is not adequate. See Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595–97 (8th Cir. 2001). 28 1 by video conference. (If counsel prefers all participants of their party on a single 2 ||conference call, counsel may provide a conference number and appropriate call-in 3 ||information, including an access code, where all counsel and parties or party 4 ||representatives for that side may be reached as an alternative to providing individual 5 telephone numbers for each participant.) 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 ||Dated: January 22, 2025 8 LY 10 Honorable Lupe Rodriguez, Jr. 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28