Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 CHRISTINA ENNIS; MICHAEL Case No.: 3:23-cv-01316-AHG MENDEZ; and MAURICE TRULL, 13 ORDER SETTING IN-PERSON Plaintiffs, SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 14 v. 15 14TH & COMMERCIAL CIC-FHHP, LP, 16 d/b/a ST. TERESA OF CALCUTTA 17 APARTMENTS; ROYAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT GROUP; and HYDER 18 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 19 PROFESSIONALS LLC, 20 Defendants. 21 14TH & COMMERCIAL CIC-FHHP, LP, 22 Cross Claimant, v. 23 ROYAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 24 GROUP and HYDER PROPERTY 25 MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS LLC, 26 Cross Defendants. 27 ___________________________________ 28 1 ROYAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 2 GROUP, 3 Cross Claimant, v. 4 14TH & COMMERCIAL CIC-FHHP, LP 5 and HYDER PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 6 PROFESSIONALS LLC, 7 Cross Defendants. 8 ____________________________________ 14TH & COMMERCIAL CIC-FHHP, LP 9 Third-Party Plaintiff, 10 v. 11 LEVEL 10 CONSTRUCTION, LP; 12 SCHINDLER ELEVATOR 13 CORPORATION; and ROES 1 through 25, Third-Party Defendants. 14 19 20 A settlement conference was held on February 23, 2026. ECF No. 85. Though the 21 case did not settle, the Court finds additional settlement discussions would be beneficial. 22 Accordingly, an in-person Settlement Conference is SET for May 15, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. 23 before Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard and with the following parties: 14th & 24 Commercial, Level 10 Construction, and Schindler Elevator Corporation. 25 In accordance with the Local Rules, the Court requires attendance of all parties, party 26 representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, and the primary 27 attorney(s) responsible for the litigation. CivLR 16.1(c)(1). 28 The Court issues the following Mandatory Procedures to be followed in 1 preparation for the Settlement Conference: 2 1. Purpose of the Conference: The purpose of the conference is to permit an 3 informal discussion between the attorneys and the settlement judge to achieve an early 4 resolution of the issues at hand. All discussions will be informal, off the record, and 5 confidential. 6 2. Full Settlement Authority Required: A party or party representative with 7 full and complete authority to enter into a binding settlement must be present. Full 8 authority to settle means that a person must be authorized to fully explore settlement 9 options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman 10 Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989). The person 11 needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of a 12 party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). Limited or 13 sum certain authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595–97 14 (8th Cir. 2001). A person who needs to call another person who is not present before 15 agreeing to any settlement does not have full authority. 16 3. Confidential Conference Statements Required: No later than May 7, 2026, 17 the parties shall submit confidential statements directly to the chambers of Magistrate 18 Judge Goddard. These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing counsel. They 19 shall be lodged via email at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. The statement is limited to 20 three (3) pages or less. There is not a page limit on exhibits. Each party’s statement must 21 outline: 22 A. the nature of the claim, 23 B. position on liability or defense, 24 C. position regarding settlement of the case with a specific 25 demand/offer for settlement,1 and 26 27 1 If a specific demand or offer cannot be made at the time the conference statement is 28 I D. any previous settlement negotiations or mediation efforts. 2 || The Court may use GenAI tools to review the information that the parties submit. Either 3 || party may object to the Court’s use of such tools by advising the Court’s law clerk of that 4 || objection when they submit the information. The Court will respect that objection without 5 || any further explanation, and the Court’s law clerk will only communicate to Judge Goddard 6 || that there was an objection, not which party made the objection. 7 4. Meeting Participant Information Required: No _ later than 8 ||May 7, 2026, counsel for each party shall send an e-mail to the Court at 9 || _goddard@casd.uscourts.gov containing the following: 10 A. the name and title of each participant, including all parties and party 11 representatives with full settlement authority, claims adjusters for 12 insured defendants, and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the 13 litigation; 14 B. an e-mail address for each participant to receive the conference 15 invitation; 16 C. a telephone number where each participant may be reached; and 17 D. a cell phone number for that party’s preferred point of contact (and 18 the name of the individual whose cell phone it is) for the Court to use 19 during the conference. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 Dated: February 25, 2026 23 Honorable Allison H. Goddard 24 United States Magistrate Judge 25 26 27 || 28 Further, the party must explain when they will be in a position to state a demand or offer.