Adan v. City of San Diego

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RASHID ADAN, Case No.: 3:19-cv-1523-LAB-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER SETTING SETTLEMENT 13 v. CONFERENCE 14 CITY OF SAN DIEGO; OFFICER JASON LANGLEY; and DOES 1–10, 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 Although the case did not settle at the Early Neutral Evaluation Conference, the 19 Court deemed that continued one-on-one conversations with counsel for both sides may be 20 productive. Thus, the Court held telephonic status conferences on December 11, 2019 and 21 March 3, 2020. ECF Nos. 13, 17. After these conversations, the Court finds that a 22 Settlement Conference will be beneficial to the parties.1 Accordingly, the Court SETS a 23 Settlement Conference for May 20, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. in the chambers of Magistrate Judge 24 Allison H. Goddard, located at 221 West Broadway, Suite 3142, San Diego, California 25 92101. 26 27 1 Additionally, the parties themselves have represented to the Court that they “would like the opportunity to discuss settlement before extensive attorney fees and costs are incurred.” 28 1 The Court issues the following mandatory procedures to be followed in preparation 2 for the Settlement Conference: 3 1. Personal appearance of parties is required. All named parties, party 4 representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, as well as principal 5 attorney(s) responsible for the litigation must be present in person. All who attend the 6 Settlement Conference must be legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the 7 case. Counsel appearing without their clients (whether or not counsel has been given 8 settlement authority) will be subject to immediate imposition of sanctions. 9 2. Full settlement authority is required. A party or party representative with 10 full and complete authority to enter into a binding settlement must be present at the 11 Settlement Conference. Full authority to settle means that a person must be authorized to 12 fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable 13 to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th 14 Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the 15 settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485–86 (D. 16 Ariz. 2003). One of the purposes of requiring a person with unlimited settlement authority 17 to attend the conference is that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the 18 face-to-face conference. Id. at 486. Limited or sum certain authority is not adequate. Nick 19 v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595–97 (8th Cir. 2001). A person who needs to 20 call another person who is not present before agreeing to any settlement does not have 21 full authority. 22 3. Confidential Settlement Conference Statements Required: No later than 23 May 15, 2020, the parties shall submit confidential statements directly to the chambers of 24 Magistrate Judge Goddard. These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing 25 counsel. They shall be lodged via email at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. The 26 Settlement Conference statement is limited to five (5) pages or less, and up to five (5) 27 pages of exhibits or declarations. Each party’s Settlement Conference statement must 28 outline: 1 A. the nature of the case and the claims, 2 B. _ position on liability or defense, 3 C. position regarding settlement of the case with a specific” 4 demand/offer for settlement,’? and 5 D. any previous settlement negotiations or mediation efforts. 6 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 Dated: March 3, 2020 9 pion H. Honorable Allison H. Goddard 10 United States Magistrate Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 || 25 A general statement, such as that a party “will negotiate in good faith,” is a not a 26 specific demand or offer.

27 ||? If a specific demand or offer cannot be made at the time the ENE statement is 28 submitted, then the reasons as to why a demand or offer cannot be made must be stated. Further, the party must explain when they will be in a position to state a demand or offer.