Novalk, LLC v. Evanston Insurance Company

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 NOVALK, LLC, Case No.: 22cv1789-JO(LR)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 13 v. MOTION TO CONTINUE MANDATORY SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE et al., 15 Defendants. [ECF No. 21] 16 17 18 On June 27, 2023, the parties filed a “Joint Motion to Reschedule the Mandatory 19 Settlement Conference.” (ECF No. 21.) They move the Court to continue the Mandatory 20 Settlement Conference (“MSC”) currently scheduled for June 28, 2023, until “August 9, 21 2023, August 16, 2023, or to the Court’s next available date and time.” (Id. at 1.) In 22 support, the parties state that due to the status of discovery, they “are not in a position to 23 proceed” with the Mandatory Settlement Conference on June 28, 2023. (Id. at 2.) 24 Having reviewed the parties’ joint motion, as well as Plaintiff’s counsel’s 25 supporting declaration, and finding good cause, The Court GRANTS the parties’ motion. 26 Accordingly, the Court continues the video MSC currently scheduled for June 28, 2023, 27 at 2:30 p.m. until August 16, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. All discussions at the MSC will be 28 informal, off the record, privileged, and confidential. Counsel for any non-English 1 speaking party is responsible for arranging for the appearance of an interpreter at the 2 conference. The following rules and deadlines apply: 3 a. Personal Appearance of Parties Required: All named parties, party 4 representatives, claims adjusters for insured defendants, as well as the principal 5 attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, must be present and legally and factually 6 prepared to discuss and resolve the case at the MSC. Counsel appearing without their 7 clients will be sanctioned, and the Court will terminate the conference. 8 b. Full Settlement Authority Required: A party or party representative with 9 full settlement authority1 must be present at the conference. Retained outside corporate 10 counsel shall not appear on behalf of a corporation as the party representative who has 11 the authority to negotiate and enter a settlement. A government entity may be excused 12 from this requirement so long as the government attorney who attends the MSC has 13 (1) primary responsibility for handling the case, and (2) authority to negotiate and 14 recommend settlement offers to the government official(s) having ultimate settlement 15 authority. 16 c. Confidential Settlement Statements Required: On or before August 8, 17 2023, the parties shall submit directly to Magistrate Judge Rodriguez’s chambers (via 18 hand delivery or by e-mail to the Court at efile_rodriguez@casd.uscourts.gov), 19 confidential settlement statements. The statements are limited to ten (10) pages, plus an 20 additional ten (10) pages of exhibits. A settlement statement must outline (1) the nature 21 of the case and the claims, (2) the party’s position on liability or defenses; (3) the party’s 22 23 24 1 “Full settlement authority” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be authorized 25 to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989). The person 26 needs 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, 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with 27 unlimited settlement authority to attend 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 certain of authority is 28 1 position regarding settlement of the case with a specific demand/offer for settlement, 2 and (4) a summary of any previous settlement negotiations or mediation efforts. The 3 settlement statement must specifically identify what the discovery process revealed 4 and the effect that the evidence has on the issues in the case. To the extent specific 5 discovery responses, portions of deposition testimony, or expert reports are pertinent to 6 the Court’s evaluation of the matter, these documents must be attached as exhibits. 7 Evidence supporting or refuting either party’s claim for damages must also be identified 8 and included as an exhibit. 9 If a party cannot make a specific demand or offer, then the party must explain why 10 a demand or offer cannot be made and when the party will be able to state a demand or 11 offer. The settlement statement should be submitted confidentially and need not be 12 shared with other parties. 13 d. Before the MSC, the Court will e-mail each MSC participant an invitation 14 to join a Zoom video conference. Participants are encouraged to use laptops or desktop 15 computers for the video conference, because mobile devices often offer inferior 16 performance. Participants shall join the video conference by following the ZoomGov 17 Meeting hyperlink in the invitation. Participants who do not have Zoom already 18 installed on their device when they click on the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink will be 19 prompted to download and install Zoom before proceeding. Zoom may then prompt 20 participants to enter the password included in the invitation. All participants will be 21 placed in a waiting room until the MSC begins. 22 e. Each participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least 23 ten minutes before the start of the MSC to ensure that the conference begins promptly at 24 2:30 p.m. 25 f. Zoom’s functionalities will allow the Court to conduct the MSC as it 26 ordinarily would conduct an in-person MSC. That is, the Court will begin the MSC with 27 all participants joined together in a main session. After an initial discussion in the main 28 session, the Court will divide participants into separate, confidential sessions, which 1 ||Zoom calls Breakout Rooms. In a Breakout Room, the Court will be able to 2 communicate with participants from a single party in confidence. Breakout Rooms will 3 || also allow parties and counsel to communicate confidentially without the Court. 4 g. No later than August 8, 2023, counsel for each party shall send an e-mail to 5 || the Court at efile_rodriguez @casd.uscourts.gov containing the following: 6 (1) The name and title of each participant, including all parties 7 || and party representatives with full settlement authority, claims adjusters for insured 8 defendants, and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation; 9 (2) An e-mail address for each participant to receive the Zoom 10 || video conference invitation; and 11 (3) A telephone number where each participant may be reached 12 ||so that if technical difficulties arise, the Court will be able to proceed telephonically 13 ||instead of by video conference. (If counsel prefers all participants of their party on a 14 || single conference call, counsel may provide a conference number and appropriate call-in 15 information, including an access code, where all counsel and parties or party 16 || representatives for that side may be reached as an alternative to providing individual 17 telephone numbers for each participant.) 19 ||Dated: June 27, 2023 20 LY 1 Honorable Lupe Rodriguez, Jr. 59 United States Magistrate Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28