Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_04-cv-00129/USCOURTS-cand-3_04-cv-00129-1/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
John E. Potter
Defendant
Lina S. Siam
Plaintiff

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LINA S. SIAM,

Plaintiff(s),

v.

JOHN E. POTTER, Postmaster

General, U.S. Postal

Service,

Defendant(s).

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No. C04-0129 MHP (BZ)

ORDER SCHEDULING 

SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

The above matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Bernard

Zimmerman for settlement purposes.

You are hereby notified that a settlement conference is

scheduled for Friday, September 9, 2005, at 9:00 a.m., in

Courtroom G, 15th Floor, Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate

Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102.

It is the responsibility of counsel to ensure that

whatever discovery is needed for all sides to evaluate the

case for settlement purposes is completed by the date of the

settlement conference. Counsel shall cooperate in providing

discovery informally and expeditiously.

Lead trial counsel shall appear at the Settlement

Conference with the parties. Any party who is not a natural

person shall be represented by the person or persons not

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directly involved in the events which gave rise to the

litigation but with full authority to negotiate a settlement. 

A person who needs to call another person not present before

accepting, rejecting or making any settlement offer does not

have full authority. If a party is a governmental entity, its

governing body shall designate one of its members or a senior

executive to appear at the Settlement Conference with

authority to participate in the Settlement Conference and, if

a tentative settlement agreement is reached, to recommend the

agreement to the governmental entity for its approval. An

insured party shall appear with a representative of the

carrier with full authority to negotiate up to the limits of

coverage. The Court shall be notified immediately if the

carrier declines to attend. Personal attendance of a party

representative will rarely be excused by the Court, and then

only upon separate written application demonstrating

substantial hardship served on opposing counsel and lodged as

early as the basis for the hardship is known.

Each party shall prepare a Settlement Conference

Statement, which must be served on opposing counsel and lodged

(not faxed) with my chambers no later than seven calendar days

prior to the conference. The Statement shall not be filed

with the Clerk of the Court. The Statement may be submitted

on CD-ROM with hypertext links to exhibits. Otherwise, the

portion of exhibits on which the party relies shall be

highlighted. The Settlement Conference Statement shall not

exceed ten pages of text and twenty pages of exhibits and

shall include the following:

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1. A brief statement of the facts of the case.

2. A brief statement of the claims and defenses

including, but not limited to, statutory or other grounds upon

which the claims are founded.

3. A summary of the proceedings to date and any pending 

motions.

4. An estimate of the cost and time to be expended for

further discovery, pretrial and trial.

5. For any party seeking relief, a description of the

relief sought, including an itemization of damages.

6. The parties' position on settlement, including

present demands and offers and a history of past settlement

discussions. The Court’s time can best be used to assist the

parties in completing their negotiations, not in starting

them. Accordingly, plaintiff must serve a demand in writing

no later than fourteen days before the conference and

defendant must respond in writing no later than eight days

before the conference. If plaintiff seeks attorney’s fees and

costs, plaintiff’s counsel shall either include the fee claim

in the demand or make a separate, simultaneous demand for fees

and costs. Counsel shall be prepared at the conference to

provide sufficient information to defendant to enable the fee

claim to be evaluated for purposes of settlement. The parties

are urged to carefully evaluate their case before taking a

settlement position since extreme positions hinder the

settlement process.

 Along with the Statement each party shall lodge with the

court a document of no more than three pages containing a

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G:\bzall\-refs\refs.05\SIAMSETTCONF.ORDER 4

candid evaluation of the parties' likelihood of prevailing on

the claims and defenses, and any other information that party

wishes not to share with opposing counsel. The more candid

the parties are, the more productive the conference will be. 

This document shall not be served on opposing counsel.

It is not unusual for conferences to last three or more

hours. Parties are encouraged to participate and frankly

discuss their case. Statements they make during the

conference will not be admissible at trial in the event the

case does not settle. The parties should be prepared to

discuss such issues as:

1. Their settlement objectives.

2. Any impediments to settlement they perceive.

3. Whether they have enough information to discuss

settlement. If not, what additional information is needed.

4. The possibility of a creative resolution of the

dispute.

The parties shall notify Magistrate Judge Zimmerman's

chambers immediately if this case settles prior to the date

set for settlement conference. Counsel shall provide a copy

of this order to each party who will participate in the

conference.

Dated: June 30, 2005

 /s/ Bernard Zimmerman

Bernard Zimmerman

United States Magistrate Judge

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