1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CALVA-GARCIA, Case No.: 22-CV-1478-MMA-WVG

12 Plaintiff, ORDER RESETTING MANDATORY 13 v. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE; CONVERTING TO ZOOM 14 CITY OF SAN DIEGO, et al., VIDEOCONFERENCE 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 19 On March 14, 2023, this matter was reassigned to United States Magistrate Judge 20 William V. Gallo. (ECF No. 19.) Pursuant to the Order of Transfer, all conferences or 21 hearing dates previously set were to remain as scheduled before Judge Gallo. Id. Due to a 22 conflict in availability, the Court RESETS the start time of July 25, 2023 Mandatory 23 Settlement Conference from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. No other dates or deadlines as set 24 forth in the operative January 10, 2023 Scheduling Order Regulating Discovery and Other 25 Pretrial Proceedings (ECF No. 17) and January 12, 2023 Amended Scheduling Order (ECF 26 No. 18) will be disturbed. 27 Additionally, the Court CONVERTS the July 25, 2023 Mandatory Settlement 28 Conference (“MSC”) from in-person appearances to remote appearances. The MSC will 1 be held via Zoom videoconference as set forth in Appendix A of this Order. 2 Counsel or any party representing himself or herself shall submit confidential 3 settlement briefs directly to chambers, via electronic mail addressed to 4 [email protected], no later than July 14, 2023. 5 Each party’s settlement statement shall set forth the party’s statement of the case, 6 identify controlling legal issues, concisely set out issues of liability and damages, and shall 7 set forth the party’s settlement position, including the last offer or demand made by that 8 party, and a separate statement of the offer or demand the party is prepared to make at the 9 settlement conference. Settlement conference briefs shall not be filed with the Clerk of 10 the Court but may be served on opposing counsel at the party’s discretion. Settlement 11 conference briefs shall comply with the undersigned’s Chambers Rules. The parties 12 shall meet and confer in good faith prior to the Mandatory Settlement Conference and 13 verify that they have done so in their respective Mandatory Settlement Conference 14 statements, outlining the substance of their discussions and negotiations. 15 Pursuant to Rule 16 and Local Civil Rule 16.3, all named Plaintiffs, named 16 Defendants, claims adjusters for insured defendants, and if a named Plaintiff or Defendant 17 is a corporation, partnership, or other entity, a representative of that entity, with full and 18 unlimited authority1 to negotiate and enter into a binding settlement, as well as the principal 19 attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, must be present and must be prepared to discuss 20 21 22 1 “Full authority to settle” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be 23 authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp.,

648 (7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to 25 change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc.,

(D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited settlement 26 authority to attend the conference includes that the person’s view of the case may be altered 27 during the face-to-face conference.

. A limited or a sum certain of authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc.,

(8th Cir. 2001). 28 1 ||in good faith, the facts of the case, the law that governs the legal issues in the case, and to 2 ||resolve the case at the Settlement Conference. Sanctions may issue against a party and/or 3 || attorney who does not proceed as noted above. Retained outside corporate counsel shall 4 ||not appear on behalf of a corporation as the party who has the authority to negotiate and 5 || enter into a settlement. Counsel seeking to reschedule a Settlement Conference must first 6 || confer with opposing counsel. The Court will consider formal, written ex parte requests to 7 continue a Settlement Conference when extraordinary circumstances exist that make a 8 continuance appropriate. 9 Counsel for a government entity may be excused from this requirement so long as 10 ||the government attorney who attends the Settlement Conference (1) has primary 11 |/responsibility for handling the case; and (2) may negotiate settlement offers which the 12 attorney is willing to recommend to the government official who has ultimate settlement 13 || authority. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 15 || DATED: April 6, 2023 | wi Ss 16 Hon. William V. Gallo United States Magistrate Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 Appendix A – Zoom Videoconference Procedures 2 1. The Court will use its official Zoom video conferencing account to hold the 3 MSC. The Zoom software is available for download on the Zoom website 4 (https://zoom.us/meetings) or on mobile devices through the installation of a free app.2 5 Joining a Zoom conference does not require creating a Zoom account, but it does require 6 downloading the .exe file (if using a computer) or the app (if using a mobile device). 7 Participants are encouraged to create an account, install Zoom and familiarize themselves 8 with Zoom in advance of the MSC.3 There is a cost-free option for creating a Zoom 9 account. 10 2. Prior to the start of the MSC, the Court will e-mail counsel the meeting login 11 information required to join the Zoom video conference. Participants can join the video 12 conference by following the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink provided to counsel or by 13 entering the meeting ID and password. Again, if possible, participants are encouraged to 14 use laptops or desktop computers with a camera for the video conference, as mobile devices 15 often offer inferior performance. Participants who do not have Zoom already installed 16 on their device when they click on the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink will be prompted 17 to download and install Zoom before proceeding. Zoom may then prompt participants 18 to enter the password included in the invitation. All participants will be placed in a waiting 19 room until the MSC begins. 20 3. Each participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least five 21 minutes before the start of the MSC to ensure that the MSC begins promptly at 2:00 p.m. 22 4. Zoom’s functionalities will allow the Court to conduct the MSC as it 23 ordinarily would conduct an in-person MSC. That is, the Court will begin the MSC with 24 25 26 2 If possible, participants are encouraged to use laptops or desktop computers for the 27 video conference, as mobile devices often offer inferior performance. 3 For help getting started with Zoom, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en- 28 1 all participants joined together in a main session. After an initial discussion in the main 2 session, the Court will divide participants into separate, confidential sessions, which Zoom 3 calls “Breakout Rooms.”4 In a Breakout Room, the Court will be able to communicate with 4 participants from a single party in confidence. Breakout Rooms will also allow parties and 5 counsel to communicate confidentially without the Court. 6 5. No later than 12:00 p.m. on July 14, 2023, counsel for each party shall send 7 an e-mail to the Court at [email protected] containing the following: 8 a. The name and title of each participant, including all parties and party 9 representatives with full settlement authority, claims adjusters for insured 10 defendants, and the primary attorney(s) responsible for the litigation; 11 b. An e-mail address for each participant. This email address should be 12 the same address the participant has used to create his or her Zoom account; and 13 c. A telephone number where each participant may be reached so that 14 if technical difficulties arise, the Court will be in a position to proceed telephonically 15 instead of by video conference. (If counsel prefers to have all participants of their 16 party on a single conference call, counsel may provide a conference number and 17 appropriate call-in information, including an access code, where all counsel and 18 parties or party representatives for that side may be reached as an alternative to 19 providing individual telephone numbers for each participant.) 20 / / / 21

22 23 4 For more information on what to expect when participating in a Zoom Breakout Room, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005769646. In short, the Court 24 will manually place each participant in their respective Breakout Room. When the Court 25 does this, on the participants device, the participant will see a notification regarding joining the Breakout Room. The participant should select the option to join the room. If the Court 26 then wishes to close the Breakout Rooms and converse with all parties and counsel, the 27 participant should choose the option that will appear on his or her device to leave the Breakout Room—this will send the participant to the group room; it will not expel the 28 1 6. All participants shall display the same level of professionalism during the 2 MSC and be prepared to devote their full attention to the MSC as if they were attending in 3 person. Because Zoom may quickly deplete the battery of a participant’s device, each 4 participant should ensure that their device is plugged in or that a charging cable is readily 5 available during the video conference. Participants should also participate in the conference 6 in a location that allows for privacy and which does not contain background noise such as 7 dogs barking, children, or other noise that will disrupt the conference. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28