1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PLAINTIFF, QIHAI CHEN on behalf of Case No.: 3:22-cv-00099-JO-VET himself and a class of all others similarly 12 situated, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 13 MOTION TO CONTINUE Plaintiffs, FEBRUARY 21, 2024 MANDATORY 14 v. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE AND 15 CASE MANAGEMENT ALLIED WASTE SYSTEMS, INC.; CONFERENCE 16 REPUBLIC SERVICES, INC.; DOES 1-

50, inclusive, 17 Doc. Nos. 108, 49, 100 Defendants. 18

19 20 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue February 21, 2024 21 Mandatory Settlement Conference (“MSC”) and Case Management Conference (“CMC”) 22 (the “Joint Motion”). Doc. No. 108. The parties seek a continuance of the MSC and CMC 23 to allow the Court time to issue a ruling on the Plaintiffs’ renewed motion for class 24 certification and time for the parties to evaluate their respective settlement positions. Id. at 25 2. The Court denied Plaintiffs’ renewed motion for class certification the same day the 26 parties filed the Joint Motion. Doc. No. 110 and 111. However, based on a review of the 27 record, good cause appears for the Court to continue the MSC and CMC so that the parties 28 may evaluate their respective settlement positions in light of the Court’s February 14, 2024 1 Order. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the Joint Motion and AMENDS the operative 2 scheduling orders (Doc. Nos. 49 and 100) as follows: 3 1. The MSC currently set for February 21, 2024 is hereby VACATED. The MSC 4 is RESET to Monday, March 25, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. and shall be conducted by Zoom 5 video conferencing before Magistrate Judge Valerie E. Torres.1 6 2. If the case does not settle during the MSC, the Court will immediately proceed 7 with a CMC. No later than seven (7) calendar days prior to the scheduled MSC/CMC, the 8 parties shall file a joint proposed schedule with proposed deadlines for expert disclosures, 9 expert discovery, pretrial motions, and the pretrial conference. 10 3. The following are mandatory procedures to be followed in preparation for the 11 MSC. Absent express permission from this Court, counsel must timely comply with the 12 dates and deadlines herein. Questions regarding the MSC or the mandatory guidelines set 13 forth herein may be directed to Judge Torres’ Chambers at (619) 557-6384. 14 a. Full Settlement Authority Required. Pursuant to Local Rule 16.1.c.1, all 15 parties, party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured parties, and the 16 principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation must participate in the MSC.2 This 17 appearance must be made with full and complete authority to negotiate and enter into a 18 binding settlement.3 19 20 1 Counsel may request the MSC be converted to an in-person appearance through a joint 21 call or email to Judge Torres’ Chambers ([email protected]). Counsel must meet and confer prior to making such a request. 22 2 The attendance requirement includes parties that are indemnified by others. Any 23 deviation from this Order requires prior Court approval. 24 3 Full authority to settle means that the individuals at the MSC are authorized to fully 25 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.,

(7th 26 Cir. 1989). Party participants need to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to 27 change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l, Inc.,

(D. Ariz. 2003). One of the purposes of requiring a person with complete 28 1 b. Confidential Settlement Brief. No later than seven (7) calendar days before 2 ||the MSC, each party must lodge a Confidential Settlement Brief by email to 3 || [email protected]. The Confidential Settlement Brief should not exceed ten 4 ||(10) pages, excluding exhibits, and must be formatted according to the requirements of 5 || Local Rule 5.1(a). Parties attaching exhibits must attach only the relevant pages of multi- 6 || page exhibits and must highlight the relevant portions. 7 c. Contents of Settlement Brief. All Confidential Settlement Briefs shall 8 |linclude the content specified in the Court’s Chambers Rules, available at 9 || https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/Judges/torres/docs/Civil%20Chambers%20Rules.pdf. 10 d. Procedure for Zoom Videoconference. No less than two (2) business days 11 to the MSC, the Court will email counsel of record an invitation with the Zoom 12 ||}meeting information. Participants can join the Zoom video conference by following the 13 ||ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink or using the meeting ID and password provided. Each 14 || participant should plan to join the Zoom video conference at least five (5) minutes before 15 start of the MSC. Counsel is responsible for ensuring their clients can participate in the 16 MSC. All participants must display the same level of professionalism and attention during 17 ||the MSC as if they were attending in person (e.g., not be driving while speaking to the 18 || Court, or otherwise distracted). 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 Dated: February 16, 2024 21 [wre cK 22 Honorable Valerie E. Torres 23 United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 17 be altered during the face-to-face conference. /d. at 486. Limited or sum certain authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc.,

(8th 28 Cir. 2001).