Keith v. Credence Resource Management, LLC

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 EDWY KEITH, Case No.: 3:23-cv-02259-AJB-AHG 13 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE 14 v. EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATION 15 CREDENCE RESOURCE CONFERENCE AND CASE MANAGEMENT, LLC, MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 16 Defendant. 17 [ECF No. 8] 18 19 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue the Early Neutral 20 Evaluation (“ENE”) and Case Management Conference (“CMC”) currently scheduled for 21 March 21, 2024. ECF No. 8. 22 Parties seeking to continue an ENE must demonstrate good cause. ECF No. 6 at 6 23 (“An ENE may be rescheduled only upon a showing of good cause”); Chmb.R. at 2 (stating 24 that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the request”); see 25 FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the court 26 may, for good cause, extend the time”). 27 “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across 28 procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 1 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to 2 amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth 3 Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). 4 Here, the parties represent to the Court that, due to Plaintiff’s work schedule, 5 Plaintiff can only attend conferences on Mondays (or after 4:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6 Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). ECF No. 8 at 2; ECF No. 8-1 at 2. Accordingly, the 7 parties request that both the ENE and CMC be continued to Monday March 25, 2024, or 8 Monday April 1, 2024. ECF No. 8 at 2. 9 Upon due consideration, the Court finds good cause to GRANT IN PART1 the joint 10 motion. The Court ORDERS as follows: 11 1. Plaintiff must serve on Defendant a written settlement proposal, which must 12 include a specific demand amount, no later than March 27, 2024. Defendant must respond 13 to Plaintiff in writing with a specific offer amount by April 9, 2024. The parties should 14 not file or otherwise copy the Court on these exchanges. Rather, the parties must include 15 their written settlement proposals in their Updated ENE Statements to the Court. 16 2. Counsel for the parties must meet and confer in person or via videoconference 17 no later than April 17, 2024. 18 3. The ENE and CMC originally scheduled for March 21, 2024, are RESET to 19 May 6, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. via videoconference before Magistrate Judge 20 Allison H. Goddard. In accordance with the Local Rules, the Court requires attendance of 21 all named parties, party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, 22 and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation via videoconference. 23 CivLR 16.1(c)(1). 24 25 26 1 Though the parties confirmed their own availability for March 25 and April 1, the parties 27 did not confirm the Court’s availability—and the Court does not have availability on those dates. Thus, the Court has continued the ENE and CMC for the first available date on its 28 1 A. Purpose of the Conference: The purpose of the ENE is to permit an 2 informal discussion between the attorneys and the settlement judge of every aspect of the 3 lawsuit in an effort to achieve an early resolution of the case. All conference discussions 4 will be informal, off the record, and confidential. 5 B. Full Settlement Authority Required: A party or party representative 6 with full and complete authority to enter into a binding settlement must be present via 7 videoconference. Full authority to settle means that a person must be authorized to fully 8 explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to 9 the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 10 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the 11 settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485–86 (D. 12 Ariz. 2003). Limited or sum certain authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, 13 Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595–97 (8th Cir. 2001). A person who needs to call another person 14 who is not present on the videoconference before agreeing to any settlement does not 15 have full authority. 16 C. Updated Confidential ENE Statements Required: No later than 17 April 29, 2024, the parties shall submit confidential statements of five (5) pages or less 18 directly to the chambers of Magistrate Judge Goddard outlining the nature of the case, the 19 claims, and the defenses. These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing 20 counsel. They shall be lodged via email at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. The ENE 21 statement is limited to five (5) pages or less, and up to five (5) pages of exhibits or 22 declarations. Each party’s ENE statement must outline: 23 i. the nature of the case and the claims, 24 ii. position on liability or defense, 25 iii. position regarding settlement of the case with a specific2 26 27 2 A general statement, such as that a party “will negotiate in good faith,” is a not a specific 28 1 demand/offer for settlement, and 2 iv. any previous settlement negotiations or mediation efforts. 3 D. Appearances via Videoconference Required: All named parties, 4 party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, as well as principal 5 attorney(s) responsible for the litigation must attend the ENE via videoconference. All who 6 attend the ENE must be legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case. 7 Counsel appearing without their clients (whether or not counsel has been given settlement 8 authority) will be subject to immediate imposition of sanctions. 9 E. The Court incorporates the videoconference procedures set forth in 10 ECF No. 6 at 4–5. 11 F. No later than April 29, 2024, counsel for each party shall send an 12 e-mail to the Court at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov containing the 13 following: 14 i. The name and title of each participant, including all parties 15 and party representatives with full settlement authority, claims 16 adjusters for insured defendants, and the primary attorney(s) 17 responsible for the litigation; 18 ii. An e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom 19 videoconference invitation; 20 iii. A telephone number where each participant may be reached; 21 and 22 iv. A cell phone number for that party’s preferred point of 23 contact (and the name of the individual whose cell phone it is) 24 for the Court to use during the ENE to alert counsel via text 25 26 27 3 If a specific demand or offer cannot be made at the time the ENE statement is submitted, then the reasons as to why a demand or offer cannot be made must be stated. Further, the 28 1 message that the Court will soon return to that party’s Breakout 2 Room, to avoid any unexpected interruptions of confidential 3 discussions. 4 G. All participants shall display the same level of professionalism during 5 ENE and be prepared to devote their full attention to the ENE as if they were attending 6 ||in person, i.e., cannot be driving or in a car while speaking to the Court. Because Zoom 7 ||may quickly deplete the battery of a participant’s device, each participant should ensure 8 || that their device is plugged in or that a charging cable is readily available. 9 H. — Counsel are advised that although the ENE will take place on Zoom, all 10 || participants shall appear and conduct themselves as if it is proceeding in a courtroom, L.e., 11 |/all participants must dress in appropriate courtroom attire. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 ||Dated: March 14, 2024 4 _ArwioonH. Kovolar Honorable Allison H. Goddard 15 United States Magistrate Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28