Roule v. Panetta

Filing 84

ORDER RE TIMING ISSUES. Signed by Judge Beeler on 07/19/2012. (JUDGE BEELER, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 7/19/2012)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Northern District of California

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San Francisco Division
WALTER R. ROULE,

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Plaintiffs,

No. C 10-04632 CW (LB)
ORDER RE TIMING ISSUES

v.
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DAVID H. PETRAEUS, DIRECTOR of the
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY,

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Defendant.
_____________________________________/

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The court conducted settlement calls today with the parties. The court will talk to the
government on Friday, July 20, 2012, and will set further dates then.

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From a case management perspective, the court previously asked the government to discuss the

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calendaring of any motion to dismiss and the timing of the filing of any opposition with Plaintiff’s

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counsel to minimize the travel expenses and other burdens. 6/26/12 Order, ECF No. 82. The court

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also directed a further in-person settlement conference in a clerk’s notice on July 17, 2012. The

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interplay between the two schedules may matter, particularly because extra expenses do nothing to

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advance settlement. The parties should meet and confer when scheduling settlement hearings and

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court hearings to try to address these issues.

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The court also raised the issue in its minute order about who should attend the settlement

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conference. The court clarifies that agency counsel was knowledgeable and helpful, but under the

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court’s ADR procedures, a person (such as an agency component supervisor) can be the person with

ORDER (C 10-04632 CW (LB))

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the authority to settle. That person is the client, and settlement prospects are maximized if the

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persons who are the decisionmakers are at the table to assess the litigation and whether settlement

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makes sense. The court asks the government to assess whether those decisionmakers can be

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included in the process to make the settlement process more robust. It has happened in other

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government cases with federal agencies who bring non-lawyer high-level agency supervisors to the

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settlement conference.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: July 19, 2012

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_____________________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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ORDER (C 10-04632 CW (LB))

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