Gillett v. EI Corporation, Inc.

Opinion

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JOHN GILLETT, Case No.: 20cv1351-JAH(MSB)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER SETTING FOLLOW-UP VIDEO 13 v. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE AND CONTINUING CASE MANAGEMENT 14 EI CORPORATION, INC., et al., CONFERENCE 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 19 On September 3, 2020, the Court held a video Early Neutral Evaluation 20 Conference via Zoom. (See ECF No. 11.) The Court sets a follow-up video Settlement 21 Conference (“SC”) for October 15, 2020,at 1:30 p.m., to be hosted through the Court’s 22 ZoomGov account. All discussions at the SC will be informal, off the record, privileged, 23 and confidential. The following rules and deadlines apply: 24 1. Personal Appearance of Parties Required: All named parties, party 25 representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, as well as the 26 principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, must participate in the video 27 conference, and be legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case. 2 result in the immediate termination of the conference. 3 2. Full Settlement Authority Required: A party or party representative with 4 full settlement authority1 must be present at the conference. Retained outside 5 corporate counsel shall not appear on behalf of a corporation as the party 6 representative who has the authority to negotiate and enter into a settlement. 7 3. The Court will use its official Zoom video conferencing account to hold the 8 SC. 9 4. Before the SC, the Court will e-mail each SC participant an invitation to join 10 a Zoom video conference. Participants are encouraged to use laptops or desktop 11 computers for the video conference, as mobile devices often offer inferior performance. 12 Participants shall join the video conference by following the ZoomGov Meeting 13 hyperlink in the invitation. Participants who do not have Zoom already installed on 14 their device when they click on the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink will be prompted to 15 download and install Zoom before proceeding. Zoom may then prompt participants to 16 enter the password included in the invitation. 17 5. Each participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least five 18 minutes before the start of the SC to ensure that the SC begins promptly at 1:30 p.m. 19 The Zoom e-mail invitation may indicate an earlier start time, but the SC will begin at 20 the Court-scheduled time. 21 / / / 22 23 1 “Full settlement authority” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be 24 authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms 25 acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Joseph 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 26 party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited settlement authority to attend the conference contemplates that the person’s 27 view of the case may be altered during the face to face conference. Id. at 486. A limited or a sum 1 6. No later than October 8, 2020, counsel for each party shall send an e-mail 2 the Court at efile_berg@casd.uscourts.gov containing the following: 3 a. The name and title of each participant, including all parties and 4 || party representatives with full settlement authority, claims adjusters for insured 5 || defendants, and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation; 6 b. An e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom video 7 || conference invitation; and 8 C. A telephone number where each participant may be reached so that 9 || if technical difficulties arise, the Court will be able to proceed telephonically instead of 10 || by video conference. (If counsel prefers all participants of their party on a single 11 || conference call, counsel may provide a conference number and appropriate call-in 12 information, including an access code, where all counsel and parties or party 13 representatives for that side may be reached as an alternative to providing individual 14 || telephone numbers for each participant.) 15 8. Absent good cause, requests for continuances will not be considered unless 16 || submitted in writing no fewer than seven (7) calendar days prior to the scheduled 17 || conference. 18 9. Case Management Conference: If the case does not settle during the SC, 19 || the Court will conduct a Case Management Conference. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 ||Dated: September 10, 2020 _ TZ. 22 4 L <—{—\. 33 Honorable Michael S. Berg United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27 28