1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KELISSA RONQUILLO, individually Case No.: 19CV1230 BEN (BGS) and on behalf of others similarly situated, 12 ORDER GRANTING IN PART Plaintiff, 13 JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE v. FEBRUARY 19, 2019 EARLY 14 NEUTRAL EVALUATION LYFT, INC.; FIRST IMPRESSIONS 15 CONFERENCE TO MARCH 19, 2020 MARKETING GROUP, LLC;

16 BOOMSOURCING, LLC; and FIRST IMPRESSIONS INTERACTIVE, INC., [ECF 35] 17 Defendants. 18

19 Plaintiff has filed Motion seeking to continue the Early Neutral Evaluation and 20 Case Management Conference from February 19, 2020 to March 19, 2020. (ECF 35.) 21 Plaintiff seeks the continuance because Plaintiff has only recently been able to serve a 22 newly named Defendant and Plaintiff recently settled with the other remaining defendant 23 in the case. (Id. at 1-2) Plaintiff notes that the recently served defendant is not required to 24 appear in the action until a week before the current ENE/CMC which may not provide 25 the defendant with sufficient time to prepare for or submit the confidential settlement 26 brief required. (Id. at 2-3.) Plaintiff also seek the extension to allow the parties to 27 discuss settlement prior to the ENE. (Id.) The Court notes additionally that all the 28 1 deadlines set in the Court’s Order setting the ENE fall before the date the new defendant 2 is required to respond. Plaintiff request a 30-day continuance to March 19, 2020. The 3 Joint Motion is GRANTED in part. The Court grants the continuance for good cause 4 shown, however the date requested is not available. The deadlines are extended as set 5 forth below. 6 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that an Early Neutral Evaluation of your case will be 7 held on April 13, 2020, at 1:30 PM before United States Magistrate Judge Bernard G. 8 Skomal, United States District Court, 333 W. Broadway, Suite 1280, San Diego, 9 California. 10 The following are mandatory guidelines for the parties preparing for the 11 Early Neutral Evaluation Conference. 12 1. Purpose of Conference: The purpose of the Early Neutral Evaluation 13 Conference (“ENE”) is to hold a serious discussion of every aspect of the lawsuit in an 14 effort to achieve an early resolution of the case. All conference discussions will be off 15 the record, privileged and confidential. Counsel for any non-English speaking parties is 16 responsible for arranging for the appearance of an interpreter at the conference. 17 2. Personal Appearance of Parties Is Required: All parties, adjusters for 18 insured defendants, and client representatives must be present and have full and complete 19 authority to enter into a binding settlement at the ENE.1 The purpose of this requirement 20 is to have representatives present who can settle the case during the course of the 21 conference without consulting a superior. Counsel for a government entity may be 22

23 1 “Full authority to settle” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be authorized to 24 fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the 25 parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp.,

(7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of a party. Pitman 26 v. Brinker Intl., Inc.,

(D. Ariz. 2003). The person must be able to bind the party without the need to call others not present at the conference for authority or approval. The purpose 27 of requiring a person with unlimited settlement authority to attend the conference includes that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the face to face conference.

. A limited or a 28 1 excused from this requirement so long as the government attorney who attends the ENE 2 conference (1) has primary responsibility for handling the case; and (2) may negotiate 3 settlement offers which the attorney is willing to recommend to the government official 4 having ultimate settlement authority. Other parties seeking permission to be excused 5 from attending the ENE in person must follow the procedures outlined in Judge Skomal’s 6 Chambers’ Rules. (See Judge Skomal’s Chambers’ Rules II.C.) Failure of any of the 7 above parties to appear at the ENE conference without the Court’s permission will be 8 grounds for sanctions. The principal attorneys responsible for the litigation must also be 9 present in person and prepared to discuss all of the legal and factual issues in the case. 10 3. Confidential ENE Statements Required: No later than March 23, 2020, 11 the parties must submit confidential statements of seven pages or less directly to Judge 12 Skomal. Please also attach relevant exhibits. The statement must address the legal and 13 factual issues in the case and should focus on issues most pertinent to settling the matter. 14 Statements do not need to be filed or served on opposing counsel. The statement must 15 also include any prior settlement offer or demand, as well as the offer or demand the 16 party will make at the ENE. The Court will keep this information confidential unless the 17 party authorizes the Court to share the information with opposing counsel. ENE 18 statements must be emailed to [email protected]. 19 4. New Parties Must Be Notified by Plaintiff’s Counsel: Plaintiff’s counsel 20 shall give notice of the ENE to parties responding to the complaint after the date of this 21 notice. 22 5. Case Management Conference: Any objections made to initial disclosure 23 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, Rule 26(a)(1)(A)-(D) are overruled, and the 24 parties are ordered to proceed with the initial disclosure process. Any further objections 25 to initial disclosure will be resolved as required by Rule 26 and Judge Skomal's 26 Chambers' Rules regarding discovery disputes. Accordingly: 27 a. The Rule 26(f) conference shall be completed on or before March 9, 28 2020; 1 b. The date of initial disclosure pursuant to Rule 26(a)(1)(A-D) shall 2 occur before March 16, 2020; 3 c. A Joint Discovery Plan shall be filed on the CM/ECF system as well 4 as lodged with Magistrate Judge Skomal by delivering the plan directly to chambers or by 5 emailing it to [email protected], on or before March 23, 2020. The plan 6 must be one document and must explicitly cover the parties' views and proposals for each 7 item identified in Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(f)(3). Agreements made in the Discovery Plan will be 8 treated as binding stipulations that are effectively incorporated into the Court's Case 9 Management Order. 10 In cases involving significant document production or any electronic discovery, the 11 parties must also include the process and procedure for "claw back" or "quick peek" 12 agreements as contemplated by Fed. R. Evid. 502(d). The parties should also address 13 whether an order providing for protection under Rule 502(e) is needed. 14 Finally, the parties must thoughtfully meet and confer about electronic discovery 15 and include answers to the following questions in the Discovery Plan: 16 i. Are there any preservation issues? If so, what are they and how are 17 the parties addressing the issues; 18 ii. What form of production have the parties agreed to? Are there any 19 disputes with respect to the parties’ preferred form of production? 20 What is the parties’ positions respecting Metadata; 21 iii. Are there any proportionality issues? Specifically address Rule 22 26(b)(2)(B) relating to inaccessible electronically stored information 23 (“ESI”); 24 iv. What have the parties decided regarding the methodologies for 25 identifying ESI for production? For instance, will the parties conduct 26 key word searching, use predictive coding, or other advanced culling 27 techniques. 28 1 In the event the case does not settle at the ENE, a Case Management Conference, 2 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b) will be held at the conclusion of the 3 settlement conference. 4 6. Requests to Continue an ENE Conference: Requests to continue ENEs 5 are rarely granted. The Court will, however, consider formal motions to continue an 6 ENE when extraordinary circumstances exist and the other party has no objection. If 7 another party objects to the continuance, counsel for both parties must call chambers and 8 discuss the matter with the research attorney/law clerk assigned to the case before any 9 motion may be filed. Any request for a continuance must be made as soon as counsel 10 is aware of the circumstances that warrant rescheduling the conference. Requests 11 to continue the ENE based on preexisting scheduling conflicts must be raised within 12 7 days of the Court’s issuance of this Order. 13 7. Settlement Prior to ENE Conference: The Court encourages the parties 14 to work on settling the matter in advance of the ENE Conference. In the event that the 15 parties resolve the matter prior to the day of the conference, the following procedures 16 must be followed before the Court will vacate the ENE and excuse the parties from 17 appearing: 18 A. The parties may file a Joint Motion to Dismiss and submit a proposed 19 order to the assigned district judge. If a Joint Motion to Dismiss is filed, the Court will 20 immediately vacate the ENE; 21 B. If the parties settle more than 24 hours before the conference but are 22 not able to file a Joint Motion to Dismiss, they must file a Joint Notice of Settlement 23 containing the electronic signatures of counsel for all settling parties and must also 24 identify a date by which the Joint Motion to Dismiss will be filed; 25 C. If the parties settle less than 24 hours before the conference, counsel 26 for the settling parties must JOINTLY call chambers and inform the Court of the 27 settlement and receive Court permission to not appear at the ENE. 28 1 Questions regarding this case or the mandatory guidelines set forth herein may be 2 || directed to Judge Skomal’s research attorney at (619) 557-2993. Please consult Judge 3 ||Skomal’s rules, available on the Court’s website, before contacting chambers with your 4 || questions. 5 Dated: January 30, 2020 7 2 p / / 6 on. Bernard G. Skomal 7 United States Magistrate Judge 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28