Alfredo Ramirez Jr. v. United States of America

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: June 25, 2026
• Docket: 3:26-cv-00665
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ALFREDO RAMIREZ JR., Case No.: 26-cv-00665-RSH-JLB 12 Plaintiff, NOTICE AND ORDER SETTING EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATION 13 v. AND CASE MANAGEMENT 14 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CONFERENCES Defendants. 15 16 17 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that an Early Neutral Evaluation Conference 18 (“ENE”) will be held by video conference1 on August 6, 2026, at 1:45 PM before 19 Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt. In the event the case does not settle at the ENE, a Case 20 21 22

23 24 1 If any party believes the ENE is more likely to be successful if conducted in-person, that party shall meet and confer on the issue with the other parties. After meeting and 25 conferring, and no later than 10 days from the date of this Order, the parties shall leave 26 a joint voicemail with chambers at (619) 557-6624 indicating which of the parties requests an in-person ENE. In the voicemail, the parties shall leave three mutually available dates 27 for a telephonic status conference to discuss whether the ENE should be held in-person. 28 The final decision will be made by the Court. 1 Management Conference (“CMC”) pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil 2 Procedure2 is SET for August 6, 2026, and will be held at the conclusion of the ENE. 3 The following are mandatory directions for the parties preparing for the ENE. 4 Absent express permission obtained from this Court, and notwithstanding the 5 pendency of any motion, counsel shall timely comply with the dates and deadlines 6 ordered herein. 7 1. Purpose of Conference: The purpose of the ENE is to permit an informal 8 discussion between the attorneys, parties, and the settlement judge of every aspect of the 9 lawsuit in an effort to achieve an early resolution of the case. All ENE discussions will be 10 informal, off the record, privileged, and confidential. Counsel for any non-English 11 speaking parties is responsible for arranging for the appearance of an interpreter at the 12 ENE. The Court generally allots up to three hours for ENEs, but the parties should be 13 prepared to participate longer at the Court’s discretion. 14 2. Appearance by All Parties Required: All parties, adjusters for insured 15 defendants, and other representatives of a party having full settlement authority as 16 explained below, and the principal attorneys responsible for the litigation, must appear at 17 the ENE by video conference and be legally and factually prepared to discuss settlement 18 of the case. Mandatory directions for participating in the ENE by video conference 19 are attached. Counsel appearing without their clients (whether or not counsel has been 20 given settlement authority) will be cause for immediate imposition of sanctions and may 21 also result in the immediate termination of the conference. If any of the principal attorneys 22 responsible for the litigation is not listed on the docket as an “ATTORNEY TO BE 23 NOTICED,” then they must file a notice of appearance on the docket as soon as practicable, 24 but in no event later than 7 calendar days prior to the ENE. 25 26 27 2 All references to Rule or Rules are to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure unless 28 otherwise stated. 1 The Court will not grant requests to excuse a required party from personally 2 appearing absent extraordinary circumstances. If counsel believes there are sufficient 3 grounds to request that a required party be excused from personally appearing, they must 4 confer with opposing counsel prior to making the request. All requests to excuse a required 5 party from personally appearing must be made by joint or ex parte motion and filed at least 6 7 calendar days before the scheduled ENE. Failure to appear at the ENE will be 7 grounds for sanctions. 8 3. Full Settlement Authority Required: In addition to counsel who will try the 9 case, a party or party representative with full settlement authority3 must appear at the ENE. 10 In the case of an entity, an authorized representative of the entity who is not retained outside 11 counsel must be present and must have discretionary authority to commit the entity to pay 12 an amount up to the amount of the Plaintiff’s prayer (excluding punitive damages prayers). 13 The purpose of this requirement is to have representatives present who can settle the case 14 during the course of the ENE without consulting a superior. 15 Counsel for a United States government entity may be excused from this 16 requirement so long as the government attorney who appears at the ENE (1) has primary 17 responsibility for handling the case, and (2) may negotiate settlement offers that the 18 attorney is willing to recommend to the government official having ultimate settlement 19 authority. 20

21 22 3 “Full settlement authority” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be authorized to explore settlement options fully and to agree at that time to any 23 settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 24 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 216 25 F.R.D. 481, 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited 26 settlement authority to appear at the conference contemplates that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the face-to-face conference. Id. at 486. A limited or a sum 27 certain of authority is not adequate. See Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595– 28 97 (8th Cir. 2001). 1 4. ENE Statements Required: On or before July 30, 2026, the parties shall 2 lodge ENE statements with Judge Burkhardt’s chambers via e-mail at 3 efile_burkhardt@casd.uscourts.gov. Whether these statements are lodged confidentially 4 or whether they are served on opposing counsel is within the parties’ discretion. ENE 5 statements must be 5 pages or less (excluding exhibits). Each party’s ENE statement shall 6 concisely set forth the following: 7 a. The nature of the case, the claims, the defenses, including the statutory 8 or other grounds upon which the claims are founded, and the parties’ positions 9 regarding settlement of the case. 10 b. A specific and current demand or offer addressing all relief or 11 remedies sought. If a specific demand or offer cannot be made at the time the 12 statement is submitted, then the reasons for that must be stated along with a statement 13 as to when the party will be in a position to state a demand or offer. A general 14 statement that a party will “negotiate in good faith,” “offer a nominal cash sum,” or 15 “be prepared to make an offer at the conference” is not a specific demand or offer. 16 In advance of the ENE, the parties are strongly encouraged to engage in at least one 17 round of settlement demands and offers. ENE statements shall include all 18 settlement proposals exchanged to date. 19 c. The total amount of attorney’s fees expended to date by Plaintiff, if 20 Plaintiff is planning on seeking attorney’s fees. Plaintiff should have back-up 21 documentation available if the Court requests it. 22 d. A list of: (i) all attorney and non-attorney conference participants 23 for that side, including the name(s) and title(s)/position(s) of the party/party 24 representative(s) who will appear and have settlement authority at the conference; 25 (ii) an e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom video conference 26 invitation; and (iii) a telephone number where each participant may be reached so 27 28 1 that if technical difficulties arise, the Court will be in a position to proceed 2 telephonically instead of by video conference.4 3 5. Submission of Magistrate Judge Consent Form: Attached is a form titled, 4 “Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge.” Plaintiff shall 5 complete the form indicating whether or not Plaintiff is consenting to magistrate judge 6 jurisdiction and shall provide Defendant’s counsel with an executed copy of the consent 7 form no later than July 9, 2026. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule (“CivLR”) 73.1, if, and only 8 if, all parties have consented to the reference to a magistrate judge, then Defendant shall 9 file the consent form(s) in paper format at the Clerk’s Office by July 13, 2026. If the 10 paper format filing reflects consent by all parties, then the form(s) will be forwarded to the 11 assigned district judge for approval. The consent form(s) should not be filed with the 12 court electronically through its Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) 13 system. No consent form will be made available, nor will its contents be made known to 14 any judicial officer, unless all parties have consented to the reference to a magistrate judge. 15 The parties are free to withhold consent without adverse substantive consequences. 16 Questions related to the consent form(s) should be directed only to the clerk’s office at 17 (619) 557-5600. Please do not call chambers’ staff with questions related to the consent 18 form(s). 19 6. New Parties Must Be Notified by Plaintiff’s Counsel: Plaintiff’s counsel 20 shall give notice of the ENE and this Order to parties responding to the complaint after the 21 date of this notice. 22 7. Case Management Under the Federal Rules: The parties are ordered to 23 comply with Rule 26 and proceed with the initial disclosure process as follows: 24

25 26 4 If counsel prefers to have all participants of their party on a single conference call, counsel may provide a conference number and appropriate call-in information, including 27 an access code, where all counsel and parties or party representatives for that side may be 28 reached as an alternative to providing individual telephone numbers for each participant. 1 a. The Rule 26(f) conference shall be completed on or before 2 July 9, 2026; and 3 b. The date of initial disclosure pursuant to Rule 26(a)(1)(A–D) shall 4 occur on or before July 30, 2026. 5 8. Joint Discovery Plan: The parties shall file a Joint Discovery Plan on or 6 before July 30, 2026. The Plan must be one document and must explicitly cover the 7 parties’ views and proposals for each item identified in Rule 26(f)(3). In addition, the Joint 8 Discovery Plan shall identify: 9 a. By name and/or title, all witnesses that counsel plans to depose in the 10 case and a brief explanation as to why counsel wants to depose the witness. If 11 opposing counsel does not agree to the deposition of a specific witness, counsel must 12 concisely explain the legal basis for the objection; 13 b. Specific documents or categories of documents that counsel want 14 produced during discovery. If opposing counsel disagrees about the production of 15 documents or categories of documents, the plan must articulate a concise, specific, 16 and valid legal basis for the objection; 17 c. What limited discovery may enable the parties to make a reasonable 18 settlement evaluation (e.g., deposition of Plaintiff, Defendant, or key witness, and/or 19 exchange of a few pertinent documents); 20 d. What issues in the case implicate expert evidence, including whether 21 counsel anticipates any issues under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 22 579 (1993); 23 e. Threshold legal issues that may be resolved by summary judgment or 24 partial summary judgment; 25 f. The procedure the parties plan to use regarding claims of privilege; 26 g. Whether a protective order will be needed in the case; and 27 h. What good cause exists, if any, to modify the Court’s tentative schedule 28 for this case. Failure to identify good cause to modify the tentative schedule will be 1 construed as concurrence with the dates and deadlines set forth in the tentative 2 schedule. The Court’s tentative schedule is as follows: 3 The date by which any motion for entry of a stipulated 4 protective order governing discovery shall be filed: August 20, 2026 5 The date by which any motion to amend pleadings 6 and/or add parties shall be filed: September 21, 2026 7 Deadline to serve written discovery requests: November 6, 2026

9 . Completion of fact discovery: January 6, 2027 10 ll The ee by which experts shall be designated in February 8, 2027 D writing: B The date by which rebuttal experts shall be February 22, 2027 exchanged: 14 The date by which parties shall comply with Rule 15 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) disclosure provisions: ee 16 The date by which disclosures regarding contradictory 17 or rebuttal evidence shall be supplemented Apu 5, 2027 18 19 Completion of expert discovery: May 5, 2027

20 The date for the Mandatory Settlement Conference: May 20, 2027 21 The date by which dispositive motions shall be filed: June 7, 2027 23 The date for a Pretrial Conference before the district 24 judge assigned to the case: October 7, 2027 25 26 The parties should consult the assigned district judge’s chambers rules, if any, in 97 || drafting their Joint Discovery Plan. 28

1 9. Requests to Continue or Reschedule ENE: Pursuant to CivLR 16.1.c, the 2 Court must set the ENE within 45 days of the filing of an answer. Therefore, requests to 3 continue or reschedule ENEs are strongly disfavored and will only be granted upon a 4 showing of good cause in a timely-filed motion. All requests to continue or reschedule 5 ENEs must be made by joint or ex parte motion and be filed no less than 7 calendar 6 days prior to the scheduled ENE. Any motion filed less than 7 calendar days in advance 7 of the ENE must address excusable neglect for the untimely request. Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 6(b)(1)(B). Additionally, motions to continue or reschedule an ENE must include three 9 mutually agreeable alternative dates for the proceeding. Counsel should not call 10 Chambers requesting to continue or reschedule an ENE or inquiring upon the Court’s 11 availability for an alternative ENE date. 12 10. Settlement Prior to ENE: The Court encourages the parties to work on 13 settling the matter in advance of the ENE. In the event that the parties resolve the matter 14 prior to the day of the ENE, the following procedures must be followed before the Court 15 will vacate the ENE and excuse the parties from appearing: 16 a. The parties may file a Joint Motion to Dismiss and separately lodge by 17 e-mail a proposed order to the assigned District Judge.5 If a Joint Motion to Dismiss 18 is filed, the Court will vacate the ENE. The parties are encouraged to leave a joint 19 voicemail message with Judge Burkhardt’s chambers to notify the Court of their 20 pending Joint Motion. 21 b. If the parties settle more than 24 hours before the ENE but are not able 22 to file a Joint Motion to Dismiss, they must file a Notice of Settlement containing 23 the electronic signatures of counsel for all settling parties and identifying a date by 24 which the Joint Motion to Dismiss will be filed. The parties are encouraged to leave 25

26 5 See Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, United 27 States District Court for the Southern District of California § 2(h), for the chambers’ 28 official email address and procedures on emailing proposed orders. 1 a joint voicemail message with Judge Burkhardt’s chambers to notify the Court of 2 their filed Notice of Settlement. 3 C. If the parties settle less than 24 hours before the ENE, the parties must 4 leave a joint voicemail message with Judge Burkhardt’s chambers to notify the Court 5 of the settlement and receive Court permission to not appear at the ENE. 6 After having reviewed Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules, appropriate 7 || questions regarding this case or the mandatory directions set forth herein may be addressed 8 || through a joint call by the parties to Judge Burkhardt’s law clerks at (619) 557-6624. 9 || Dated: June 25, 2026 -

n. Jill L. Burkhardt ited States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 Mandatory Directions for Zoom Video Conference Participation 2 1. The Court will use its official ZoomGov video conferencing account to hold 3 the ENE. IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH ZOOM: Zoom is available on 4 computers through a download on the Zoom website (https://zoom.us/meetings) or on 5 mobile devices through the installation of a free app.1 Joining a Zoom conference does not 6 require creating a Zoom account, but it does require downloading the .exe file (if using a 7 computer) or the app (if using a mobile device). Participants are encouraged to create an 8 account, install Zoom and familiarize themselves with Zoom in advance of the ENE.2 9 There is a cost-free option for creating a Zoom account. 10 2. Prior to the start of the ENE, the Court will e-mail each ENE participant an 11 invitation to join a Zoom video conference. Again, if possible, participants are encouraged 12 to use laptops or desktop computers for the video conference, as mobile devices often offer 13 inferior performance. Because Zoom may quickly deplete the battery of a participant’s 14 device, each participant should ensure that her or his device is plugged in or that a charging 15 cable is readily available during the video conference. Participants shall join the video 16 conference by following the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink in the invitation. Participants 17 who do not have Zoom already installed on their device when they click on the 18 ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink will be prompted to download and install Zoom before 19 proceeding. Zoom may then prompt participants to enter the password included in the 20 invitation. All participants will be placed in a waiting room until the ENE begins. 21 3. Each participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least 22 5 minutes before the start of the ENE to ensure that the ENE begins on time. 23 /// 24

25 26 1 If possible, participants are encouraged to use laptops or desktop computers for the video conference, as mobile devices often offer inferior performance. 27 2 For help getting started with Zoom, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en- 28 us/categories/200101697-Getting-Started 1 4. Zoom’s functionalities will allow the Court to conduct the ENE as it ordinarily 2 would conduct an in-person ENE. That is, the Court will begin the ENE with all 3 participants joined together in a main session. After an initial discussion in the main 4 session, the Court will divide participants into separate, confidential sessions, which Zoom 5 calls Breakout Rooms.3 In a Breakout Room, the Court will be able to communicate with 6 participants from a single party in confidence. Breakout Rooms will also allow parties and 7 counsel to communicate confidentially without the Court. 8 5. All participants shall display the same level of professionalism during the 9 ENE and be prepared to devote their full attention to the ENE as if they were attending in 10 person. 11 6. If the case does not settle during the ENE, the Court will hold the CMC 12 immediately following the ENE with counsel only. 13 /// 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 3 For more information on what to expect when participating in a Zoom Breakout 28 Room, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005769646 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ALFREDO RAMIREZ JR., Case No.: 26-cv-00665-RSH-JLB Plaintiff(s), NOTICE, CONSENT, AND v. REFERENCE OF A CIVIL ACTION TO A MAGISTRATE JUDGE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant(s).

Notice of a magistrate judge's availability. A United States magistrate judge of this court is available to conduct all proceedings in this civil action (including a jury or nonjury trial) and to order the entry of a final judgment. The judgment may then be appealed directly to the United States court of appeals like any other judgment of this court. A magistrate judge may exercise this authority only if all parties voluntarily consent. You may consent to have your case referred to a magistrate judge, or you may withhold your consent without adverse substantive consequences. The name of any party withholding consent will not be revealed to any judge who may otherwise be involved with your case. Consent to a magistrate judge’s authority. The following parties Consent / Do Not Consent* ☐ ☐ to have a United States magistrate judge conduct all proceedings in this case including trial, the entry of final judgment, and all post-trial proceedings. Printed Names Signatures of all parties and counsel for all parties Dates

REFERENCE ORDER IT IS ORDERED: This case is referred to United States Magistrate Judge ___________________ to conduct all proceedings and order entry of a final judgment in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), Fed. R. Civ. P. 73, and CivLR 73.1.

Date United States District Judge