Shelby v. Phoenix Investment Partners, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL GARY SHELBY, Case No.: 3:23-cv-00656-BAS-VET 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART 13 v. JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE THE MANDATORY SETTLEMENT 14 PHOENIX INVESTMENT PARTNERS, CONFERENCE INC., 15 Defendant. 16 [Doc. No. 23] 17 18 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue Mandatory Settlement 19 Conference (“Joint Motion”). Doc. No. 23. Therein, the parties request to continue the 20 Mandatory Settlement Conference (“MSC”) currently set for May 16, 2024 to sometime in 21 mid-July. Id. at 2. They state that good cause exists for the continuance because Plaintiff 22 will “be outside the state of California during the month of May, returning the second week 23 of June, 2024.” Id. This is the parties’ second request for a continuance related to the 24 original scheduling order. See Doc. No. 15. The parties seek to continue the MSC to July, 25 but only cite to Plaintiff’s absence until the second week of June. Additionally, continuing 26 the MSC to July would conflict with pretrial deadlines in the original scheduling order. See 27 Doc. No. 10 at 5. Therefore, based on a review of the Joint Motion and the record, and 28 good cause appearing, the parties’ request to continue the MSC is GRANTED IN PART. 1 The parties are advised that further continuances are strongly disfavored absent additional 2 supporting facts. The Court hereby ORDERS the following: 3 1. A Mandatory Settlement Conference (“MSC”) shall be conducted by 4 Zoom video conferencing on June 12, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. before Magistrate Judge Valerie 5 E. Torres.1 6 2. The following are mandatory procedures to be followed in preparation for 7 the MSC. Absent express permission from this Court, counsel must timely comply with 8 the dates and deadlines herein. Questions regarding the MSC or the mandatory guidelines 9 set forth herein may be directed to Judge Torres’ Chambers at (619) 557-6384. 10 3. Full Settlement Authority Required. Pursuant to Local Rule 16.1.c.1, all 11 parties, party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured parties, and the 12 principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation must participate in the MSC.2 This 13 appearance must be made with full and complete authority to negotiate and enter into a 14 binding settlement.3 Counsel for a government entity is excused from this requirement if 15 the government attorney who participates in the MSC (i) has primary responsibility for 16 17 18 1 Counsel may request the MSC be converted to an in-person appearance through a joint 19 call or email to Judge Torres’ Chambers (efile_torres@casd.uscourts.gov). Counsel must meet and confer prior to making such a request. 20 2 The attendance requirement includes parties that are indemnified by others. Any 21 deviation from this Order requires prior Court approval. 22 3 Full authority to settle means that the individuals at the MSC are authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable 23 to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th 24 Cir. 1989). Party participants need 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, 25 485-486 (D. Ariz. 2003). One of the purposes of requiring a person with complete 26 settlement authority to attend the conference is that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the face-to-face conference. Id. at 486. Limited or sum certain 27 authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595-597 (8th 28 Cir. 2001). 1 ||handling the case, and (11) may negotiate settlement offers that the attorney is willing to 2 ||recommend to the government official having ultimate settlement authority. 3 4. Confidential Settlement Brief. No later than seven (7) calendar days 4 ||before the MSC, each party must lodge a Confidential Settlement Brief by email to 5 || efile_torres@casd.uscourts.gov. The Confidential Settlement Brief should not exceed ten 6 ||(10) pages, excluding exhibits, and must be formatted according to the requirements of 7 Local Rule 5.1(a). Parties attaching exhibits must attach only the relevant pages of multi- 8 || page exhibits and must highlight the relevant portions. 9 5. Contents of Settlement Brief. All Confidential Settlement Briefs shall 10 |}include the content specified in the Court’s Chambers Rules, available at 11 || https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/Judges/torres/docs/Civil%20Chambers%20Rules.pdf. 12 6. Procedure for Zoom Videoconference. No less than two (2) business 13 || days prior to the MSC, the Court will email counsel of record an invitation with the Zoom 14 ||meeting information. Participants can join the Zoom video conference by following the 15 ||ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink or using the meeting ID and password provided. Each 16 || participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least five (5) minutes before 17 || the start of the MSC. Counsel is responsible for ensuring their clients can participate in the 18 ||MSC. All participants must display the same level of professionalism and attention during 19 ||the MSC as if they were attending in person (e.g., not be driving while speaking to the 20 || Court, or otherwise distracted). 21 All other pretrial dates and deadlines in the Court’s original scheduling order remain 22 effect. See Doc. No. 10 at 5-6. 23 IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 Dated: April 24, 2024 °° rec— 26 Honorable Valerie E. Torres 27 United States Magistrate Judge 28