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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

GERARDO CHANG,

Plaintiff(s)

v.

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY,

Defendant(s).

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No. C09-1607 MMC (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, Thursday, February 25, 2010, 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

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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

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

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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:

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.

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G:\BZALL\-REFS\REFS.2010\CHANG.SC.wpd 4

 Along with the Statement each party shall lodge with the

court a document of no more than three pages containing a 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: February 4, 2010

 

Bernard Zimmerman

United States Magistrate Judge

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