McNeal v. Fleming, et al

Filing 317

ORDER signed by District Judge Troy L. Nunley on 10/19/2017 SETTING this case for a Settlement Conference on 11/8/2017 at 09:30 AM in Courtroom 9 (SAB) before Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone. Each party shall provide a confidential settlement conference in accordance with this order. (cc: SAB) (Yin, K)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 VERNON WAYNE MCNEAL, 11 No. 2:02-cv-2524-TLN-CKD Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 FLEMING, et al., 14 ORDER SETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis with an action filed 17 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court has determined that this case will benefit from a 18 settlement conference. Therefore, this case will be referred to Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone 19 to conduct a settlement conference at the U. S. District Court, 2500 Tulare Street, Fresno, 20 California 93721 in Courtroom #9 on November 8, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. 21 22 A separate order and writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum will issue concurrently with this order. 23 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 24 1. This case is set for a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone 25 on November 8, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. at the U. S. District Court, 2500 Tulare Street, 26 Fresno, California 93721 in Courtroom #9. 27 28 2. A representative with full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding 1 settlement shall attend in person.1 1 3. Those in attendance must be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses, and damages. 2 3 The failure of any counsel, party, or authorized person subject to this order to appear 4 in person may result in the imposition of sanctions. In addition, the conference will 5 not proceed and will be reset to another date. 4. Each party shall provide a confidential settlement statement to the following email 6 7 address: saborders@caed.uscourts.gov. Plaintiff shall mail his confidential settlement 8 statement Attn: Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone, USDC CAED, 2500 Tulare 9 Street, Fresno, California 93721. The envelope shall be marked “Confidential 10 Settlement Statement”. Settlement statements shall arrive no later than November 1, 11 2017. Parties shall also file a Notice of Submission of Confidential Settlement 12 Conference Statement (See Local Rule 270(d)). 13 14 Settlement statements should not be filed with the Clerk of the Court nor served on 15 any other party. Settlement statements shall be clearly marked Aconfidential@ with 16 the date and time of the settlement conference indicated prominently thereon. 17 18 The confidential settlement statement shall be no longer than five pages in length, 19 typed or neatly printed, and include the following: 20 a. A brief statement of the facts of the case. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 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… .” 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].”). 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. 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 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., 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. at 486. An authorization to settle for a limited dollar amount or sum certain can be found not to comply with the requirement of full authority to settle. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 596–97 (8th Cir. 2001). 2 1 b. A brief statement of the claims and defenses, i.e., statutory or other grounds upon 2 which the claims are founded; a forthright evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of 3 prevailing on the claims and defenses; and a description of the major issues in 4 dispute. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 c. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for further discovery, pretrial, and trial. d. The party’s position on settlement, including present demands and offers and a history of past settlement discussions, offers, and demands. e. A brief statement of each party’s expectations and goals for the settlement conference, including how much a party is willing to accept and/or willing to pay. IT IS SO ORDERED. 12 13 Dated: October 19, 2017 14 15 Troy L. Nunley United States District Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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