1

 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 

WEST PALM BEACH DIVISION 

CASE NO. 20-61356-CIV-ALTMAN/HUNT 

LILAWATEE LOOKRWAH-ANDREWS, 

 , 

 Plaintiffs FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 

 vs. 

 AUGUST 28, 2020 

BLUEOCEAN MARINE SERVICES, LLC, 

 PAGES 1 - 17 

 Defendant. 

_________________________________/ 

TRANSCRIPT OF SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE HEARING 

BEFORE THE HONORABLE PATRICK M. HUNT 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 

APPEARANCES:

FOR THE PLAINTIFF: ELLIOT ARI KOZOLCHYK, ESQ. 

 320 S.E. 9th Street 

 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 

FOR THE DEFENDANT: PETER T. MAVRICK, ESQ. 

 1620 W. Oakland Park Boulevard 

 Suite 300 

 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311 

REPORTED BY: DIANE M. MILLER, RMR, CRR, CRC 

 Official Court Reporter 

 701 Clematis Street 

 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 

 (561)514-3728 

 diane_miller@flsd.uscourts.gov 

Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 1 of 17
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P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S

THE COURT: Okay, calling case number 

20-61356-CIV-Altman/Hunt, Lilawatee Lookrwah-Andrews versus

BlueOcean Marine, LLC, et al.

Counsel, please announce your appearance for the

record.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Good afternoon, Your Honor, Elliot

Kozolchyk behalf of the plaintiff, Lilawatee Lookrwah-Andrews

is here with me.

THE COURT: Okay, good afternoon.

MR. MAVRICK: Good afternoon, Your Honor; Peter

Mavrick on behalf of defendants; and my clients, the corporate

representatives Michael L. Brochu and Michael W. Brochu are

both in attendance, and they are both the corporate

representatives for the two corporate defendants.

THE COURT: Thank you. 

I'm Patrick Hunt, and I'm a magistrate judge. I'm

not here to do any rulings here today. I'm here to help you

settle this case. We are going off the record for a few

minutes; but right now, we are on the record. One of the

things we need to do to start with is for me to confirm that,

on behalf of Plaintiff, Mr. Lookrwah-Andrews, is that how you

pronounce your last name?

THE PLAINTIFF: Yes.

THE COURT: Okay, I'm sorry, Miss, isn't it?

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THE PLAINTIFF: Yeah. 

THE COURT: Okay. Do you have full authority to

settle the case here today without asking permission from

anyone else?

THE PLAINTIFF: Yes.

THE COURT: All right. And how about you, Misters

Brochu, do you each have the authority to settle this case here

today, including with respect to the corporate defendants? 

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE DEFENDANT: Yes, we do.

THE COURT: All right. Then no one has to make any

phone calls with insurance companies or silent partners or

anything like that.

THE DEFENDANT: Correct. 

THE COURT: Okay. Like I said, I am a judge, but I'm

not here to rule on anything today. I'm here to help you reach

a settlement. This conference is confidential. That means a

couple different things. One is that anything that your that

lawyer says while submitted in confidential settlement

statements I don't share with the other side unless and until

the lawyer says it is okay to do so.

Also, anything that happens here today, once we go

off record, nothing that happens here today can be used against

you at trial or in discovery, anything like that. What happens

here will stay here.

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Finally, just as importantly, this has been referred

to me for a settlement conference, but I'm not going to be

making any decisions in your case. So when this is over, if we

don't settle, all I'll report to Judge Altman is either settled

or didn't settle. So if during the course of this, I get my

hands a little bit dirty and you decide that it looks like I'm

favoring one side over the other, or I think one side is being

stubborn or anything like that, it doesn't matter because, at

the end of the day, all I'm going to do is tell Judge Altman

either we settled or didn't. I'm not going to tell him

anything else that happened here today, so it's confidential in

that respect.

Let me start off with my views on settlement, and

then we will go off the record, split up in different rooms

which we will do virtually. I'll move back and forth between

the rooms and make every effort to try to resolve this.

If at any time the lawyers think it makes sense to

move both of you in a room without your clients, with or

without me, we can do that as well. There aren't any real

rules about how we proceed. That's just how we are going to

start.

We are starting a little bit later than we normally

do. It is a little bit after 3:00 already. I hope to have

this finished up by 5:00, so let's try to make some progress

early on.

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In 1850, Abraham Lincoln said this about litigation.

He said, "Discourage litigation, persuade your neighbor to

compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal

the winner is often a real loser in terms of fees, expenses,

and waste of time."

Fewer than 5 percent of civil cases end up going to

trial in any given year. If you go to trial, I can tell you

that you will receive a fair trial in front of the judge and

jury, but the final result will remain uncertain until the case

is tried, but I can tell you the process is fair. If you

litigate this in from of Judge Altman and jury, you are going

to receive justice.

So why do the overwhelming majority of cases settle?

There is a list someone came up called the "Seven C's," and I

want to go through those with you now. The first is "client

control over the outcome." You guys have an active role. Your

role at trial will be passive. The finder of fact will be the

judge or the jury, and they will make the decisions, not you.

Today, you are in charge. 

Second is to "contain costs." You probably figured

out by now that every day of litigation, the costs go up, and

it gets much more as you get closer to trial; and during trial,

costs goes up even more. Today, you can contain those costs. 

Number three is the "certainty of the outcome." Your

lawyers can give you estimates of what they think might happen

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at trial, but they don't know what is going to happen at trial.

It depends on how the witnesses do, what jurors think, rulings

on motions, possibly decisions on appeal. Today, you have

certainty, you can control the outcome.

Fourth is "confidentiality," and under certain

circumstances, the agreement itself can be confidential if the

parties wish.

Number five is "creativity." Judges and juries are

bound by legal principles [unintelligible] justice, but parties

can be creative in fashioning remedies. I found in doing a lot

of these settlement conferences, sometimes it is not all about

the money; that sometimes, especially in cases like this

involving a small business, sometimes there are things going on

that are not just about money, and those things can be

discussed in a settlement conference and we can be creative

about solutions. You can't do that at trial, but today we can.

Six is "continuing the relationship." Litigation

always increases antagonism; and if, in fact, goes to trial, it

makes it even worse. If you have any kind of continuing

relationship, it is much harder after a trial. 

Finally "closure." Think about the word "trial." A

trial is an ordeal, and trials are always very stressful.

Before becoming a judge, I was a litigator for about 25 years

and I tried a lot of cases and every single one of them was

stressful from the biggest to smallest, from first to the last.

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Something is going to go wrong at trial. Something is going to

happen that your lawyers didn't expect. And ultimately,

someone is going to win and someone is going to lose; but

sometimes both parties feel like they have lost because they

have spent so much money and they have taken so much time.

Sometimes there is going to be an appeal that will drag it on

evening longer. A settlement ends the matter. Trials are

about the past, but settlements are about putting the past

aside and moving on to future. 

So I have three goals here today. First, I would

like to achieve an agreeable settlement for all parties. 

Miss Lookrwah-Andrews, do you share that goal?

THE PLAINTIFF: Yes.

And how about you, Mr. Michael L. Brochu?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: And Mr. Michael W. Brochu?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: All right. You guys are the decision

makers, you have the power to make that happen here today. 

Second, I want to avoid surprises. I don't want

anybody coming back a year from now saying, Judge, I didn't

realize I could go through this whole trial and end up with

nothing; or, on the other hand, I didn't know I could go

through a trial and get hit with a big judgment and thousands

of dollars in attorney's fees on top of it.

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Third, I would like the parties to develop a working

relationship. I know we are pretty early on in this case. I

hope we settle today; but if we don't, I hope you have enough

of a relationship after this settlement conference is over that

you can keep working on it after we finish here today. 

So what we are going to do now is divide up into a

couple rooms. I think I want to talk with the lawyers first

with or without your clients because there seems to be -- and

this happens fairly frequently these days, there is a little

bit of disconnect in where you see this case, where you see the

posture of settlement discussions at this moment, so I want to

talk to you about that before we get started because I would

like to have some common ground.

Do you have any preference whether I do that in front

of clients or do it separately, Mr. Kozolchyk?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: I don't mind my client being here.

THE COURT: Mr. Mavrick?

MR. MAVRICK: I prefer my clients be participants 

in it.

THE COURT: All right. And this will just be quick,

but we will do that off the record. Let's go off the record

now, and we will start this, all of us in the same room; but as

soon as we get some common ground established about what the

settlement negotiations have been up to now, then we are going

to divide up into rooms. So as of now, we are going off the

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 8 of 17
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record.

(Discussion off the record) 

THE COURT: Call the case please.

THE COURTROOM DEPUTY: Calling case number

20-61356-CIV-ALTMAN/HUNT, Lilawatee Lookrwah-Andrews versus

BlueOcean Marine Services, LLC, et al.

THE COURT: Counsel, if you could please announce

your appearances for the record.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Attorney Elliot Kozolchyk on behalf

of Plaintiff, Miss Lookrwah-Andrews.

THE COURT: Okay. For Defense.

MR. MAVRICK: Peter Mavrick on behalf of all

defendants.

THE COURT: All right. Both Miss Lookrwah-Andrews

and Mr. Michael L. and Michael W. are present, is that correct?

MR. MAVRICK: Correct.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes, correct.

THE COURT: All right, it is about 5:30. We have

been at this since about 3:00. I believe we have an agreement,

and let me ask Mr. Mavrick to read the fundamentals of

agreement into the record.

MR. MAVRICK: Okay. Defendants shall pay Plaintiff

$7,564 as full settlement for any possible wages and other

damages as well as Plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs.

As a condition precedent for these payments,

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 9 of 17
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Plaintiff shall generally release all defendants named in

lawsuit or all -- general release of all plaintiffs and

defendants as well as their agents just like a normal general

release, and the general release will include release of any

potential future lawsuits based on anything that occurred from

the date of signing the agreement into the past as well as any

debts or obligations that any of the defendants may -- the

plaintiff may claim owed to her from the past, any equity that

any of the defendants may owe the plaintiff or plaintiff have

any interest or financial interest in any of the defendants.

All of those are given up and fully released and cannot be sued

upon or claimed in the future by the plaintiff.

Correspondingly, the defendants shall execute general

releases correspondingly of the same scope as a general release

of the plaintiff. The Court must approve the settlement, and

the Court must dismiss the case with prejudice with each party

to bear its own respective attorney's fees and costs.

Plaintiff shall agree that she shall not be rehired

nor shall she apply to be hired by any of the defendants named

in the lawsuit.

Plaintiff, at the time she signs the settlement

agreement which is the condition, the plaintiff must sign the

settlement agreement and the defendants must sign the

settlement agreement with these terms. The plaintiff

represents and warrants that she does not have any property

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 10 of 17
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that belongs to or ever belonged to any of the defendants.

In addition, Plaintiff shall keep confidential all

information concerning Defendants and all information she

learned during her employment/business relationship with

Defendants and all aspects of her employment/business

relationship with Defendants shall be kept confidential by

Plaintiff.

With respect to all aspects of the settlement

agreement, the prevailing party, and any lawsuit concerning any

alleged violation of the settlement agreement or any provision

of the settlement agreement" shall recover its, his, or her

reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the nonprevailing

party.

THE COURT: Is that everything?

MR. MAVRICK: That's everything. Those are the

principle terms.

THE COURT: Mr. Kozolchyk, are you okay with those

terms?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yeah. I just want to add that the

general release and the mutual general release are equal in

scope to both parties.

THE COURT: I think that's what was said; is that

right, Mr. Mavrick?

MR. MAVRICK: That's correct.

THE COURT: Mutual general release equal in scope for

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 11 of 17
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both parties.

Let me ask, Mr. Kozolchyk, to let me know what the

split will be.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Three thousand dollars to the client,

4,000 in attorney's fees, and $564 in costs.

THE COURT: Okay. All right. And it is the

intention of the parties to reduce this into a written

agreement, and the terms that you just read into the record

will be effective as of the date of the signing of that

agreement. You are going to submit that agreement to me, and

we will do a telephonic appearance at that time; is that

everyone's agreement?

MR. MAVRICK: Can I just clarify one thing? The

amount of fees and costs is 4,564?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes.

THE COURT: Four thousand in fees, 564 in costs,

right?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes.

MR. MAVRICK: Of the 3,000, 1500 is wages, 1500 is

liquidated and other damages?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Sure.

THE COURT: Okay. You will put that in the agreement

that you will submit to me for approval, correct?

MR. MAVRICK: That's correct.

THE COURT: How long --

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MR. KOZOLCHYK: Okay, hang on. The counterclaims are

going to be dismissed with prejudice too with each side to bear

their own fees and costs, right?

MR. MAVRICK: Precisely.

THE COURT: All right. You are going to submit a

written agreement to me. How much time do you need to do that?

MR. MAVRICK: I think at the most seven days. I have

already got a draft which I'll send to Mr. Kozolchyk by Monday

and --

THE COURT: Mr. Kozolchyk?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: I would like more time. You know, I

would rather err on the side of caution.

THE COURT: Ten days?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: How about -- is 14 okay?

MR. MAVRICK: I'm sorry, how long?

THE COURT: Fourteen days.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Is 14 days okay?

MR. MAVRICK: I'm fine with that.

THE COURT: All right. So you will submit a

settlement agreement within 14 days; at that point, we will set

a telephonic status conference.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Your Honor -- I'm sorry -- one more

thing, I apologize. And is the dismissal with prejudice

conditioned on the Court's retaining jurisdiction to enforce

settlement terms?

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THE COURT: Right. How long do you think you expect

for that? I expect payment will be right away, right?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: When is payment going to be

delivered?

MR. MAVRICK: I haven't asked the clients the time of

the payment, but I should say we would make payment within 30

days of the -- or the Court's dismissal of the lawsuit.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: How about two weeks?

MR. MAVRICK: Well, I have to ask them. If you want

to hold, I can check with the clients.

THE COURT: No; you are going to put that into your

agreement, and I'll deal with that at the time. So I will

maintain jurisdiction for a reasonable time to insure that the

terms of the agreement are carried out. You will specify that

term in the settlement agreement; and when we have the fairness

hearing, I will issue an order that retains jurisdiction for

the amount that you guys agreed good upon, okay?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: We need a consent to you, as well,

Your Honor.

THE COURT: Yeah, please -- if that's the way you

want to do it, yes, do a consent. Elliot, I think you have

forms, fill it out and send them to Peter and get that taken

care of.

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Sure.

THE COURT: All right. So if that's all taken care

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of by the time we get the agreement, we will simply set it for

a telephonic fairness hearing. At that point, I'll have

jurisdiction and I'll be able to enter an order and we will

have the case closed.

Does that cover everything as far as you are

concerned, Mr. Kozolchyk?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes.

THE COURT: Thank you.

Mr. Mavrick?

MR. MAVRICK: Yes; thank you, Your Honor.

THE COURT: All right. Miss Lookrwah-Andrews, you

heard the general terms of the agreement; is that satisfactory

to you?

THE PLAINTIFF: Yes.

THE COURT: And how about you Michael L. Brochu, you

heard the terms of the agreement, are you okay with those

terms?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes. 

THE COURT: And Michael W. Brochu?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: And between the two of you, you are both

speaking on behalf of the corporations as well?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: All right, then I want to thank both

sides for working diligently to try to get it resolved. We

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made great progress. I'm sure Judge Altman is happy; I'm

happy; I'm sure your clients are happy as well. Maybe "happy"

is too strong a word, but people walk away a little bit not

happy, that's probably a good settlement.

So I will expect a settlement agreement within 14

days; and if you consent to me, we will then set it for a

fairness hearing. We will take care of all of the loose ends

and enter an order dismissing with prejudice along the lines of

the agreement that was just outlined. 

Does that cover everything, Mr. Kozolchyk?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes, Your Honor; have a great night.

Thank you for your hard work.

THE COURT: Thank you. 

Mr. Mavrick, does that cover everything?

MR. MAVRICK: Yes, Your Honor, thank you.

THE COURT: Again, thank you, everyone. Does that

cover everything?

MR. KOZOLCHYK: Yes, I believe so.

THE COURT: Thank you all, have a good night.

MR. MAVRICK: Thank you.

THE COURT: All right, bye.

(PROCEEDINGS ADJOURNED) 

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 16 of 17
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C-E-R-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-E

 I hereby certify that the foregoing is 

 a transcription, to the best of my ability, of the 

 DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING of proceedings in the 

 above-entitled matter. 

10/1/2020 /s/DIANE MILLER

 DATE DIANE MILLER, RMR, CRR 

 Official Court Reporter 

 United States District Court 

 701 Clematis Street, Room 259 

 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 

 561-514-3728 

F-I-C-A-T-E 

 I hereby certify that the foregoing is 

 an accurate transcription and proceedings in the 

 above-entitled matter. 

________ ___________________________ 

 DATE DIANE MILLER, RMR, CRR, CRC 

 Official Court Reporter 

 United States District Court 

 701 Clematis Street, Room 259 

 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 

 561-514-3728 

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Case 0:20-cv-61356-PMH Document 35-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/28/2020 Page 17 of 17