(PC) Norsworthy v. Felix

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: January 22, 2025
• Docket: 1:23-cv-01151
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHELLE-LAEL B. NORSWORTHY, Case No.: 1:23-cv-01151-KES-SKO 12 Plaintiff, ORDER SCHEDULING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 13 v. March 13, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. 14 OFFICER FELIX, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff Michelle-Lael B. Norsworthy is represented by counsel in this civil rights action. 18 Following screening, this action proceeds against Defendants Cowing, Felix, Haynes, and 19 Villanueva, for alleged violations of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights. The Court has determined 20 that this case will benefit from a settlement conference. Therefore, this case was referred to 21 Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean to conduct a settlement conference, which is hereby 22 scheduled for March 13, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. 23 Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that: 24 1. A settlement conference is now scheduled to occur on March 13, 2025, at 1:00 p.m., 25 before Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean. The conference shall be conducted via 26 Zoom videoconference and shall last up to three hours. 27 2. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 1 settlement agreement shall attend.1 2 3. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses, and damages at 3 issue in the case. The failure of any counsel, party, or authorized person subject to this 4 order to appear may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference 5 will not proceed and will be reset to another date. 6 4. The parties shall provide a confidential settlement statement no later than one week 7 before the conference, to the following email address: epgorders@caed.uscourts.gov. 8 Parties shall also file a Notice of Submission of Confidential Settlement Conference 9 Statement (see Local Rule 270(d)). 10 5. Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of Court nor served on any 11 other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked “confidential” with the 12 date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 13 6. The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length 14 and include the following: 15 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 16 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, i.e., statutory or other grounds upon 17 which the claims are founded; a forthright evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of 18 prevailing on the claims and defenses; and a description of the major issues in 19 dispute. 20 c. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and 21 trial.

22 1 While the exercise of its authority is subject to abuse of discretion review, “the district court has the authority to order parties, including the federal government, to participate in mandatory settlement conferences….” 23 United States v. United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, 694 F.3d 1051, 1053, 1057, 1059 (9th Cir. 2012) (“the district court has broad authority to compel participation in mandatory settlement conference[s].”). 24 The term “full authority to settle” means that the individuals attending the mediation conference must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. G. 25 Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989), cited with approval in Official Airline Guides, Inc. v. Goss, 6 F.3d 1385, 1396 (9th Cir. 1993). The individual with full authority to settle must also 26 have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of the party, if appropriate. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485-86 (D. Ariz. 2003), amended on recon. in part, Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 27 2003 WL 23353478 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose behind requiring the attendance of a person with full settlement authority is that the parties’ view of the case may be altered during the face-to-face conference. Pitman, 216 F.R.D. 1 d. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a 2 history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. 3 e. A brief statement of the party’s expectations and goals for the settlement 4 conference, including how much the party is willing to accept and/or willing to 5 pay. 6 f. If the parties intend to discuss the joint settlement of any other actions or claims 7 not in this suit, a brief description of each action or claim as set forth above, 8 including case number(s) if applicable. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10

11 Dated: January 22, 2025 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12

17 cc: Felicia Navarro, CRD 18