Austin v. Sukhumvit 51 Inc
- Garnett
- 1:24-cv-09997
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Austin v. Sukhumvit 51, Judge Garnett ordered settlement talks, a joint status letter, and a temporary stay of defendants’ response deadline.
Plaintiff Patrick Austin, Defendants Sukhumvit 51 Inc. and Kane & Moss LLC, and their counsel are affected by the settlement-discussion, joint-letter, notice, and response-deadline requirements.
What happened
In Patrick Austin v. Sukhumvit 51 Inc. and Kane & Moss LLC, the court ordered the parties to meet for at least one hour within 30 days after each defendant receives the summons and complaint. They must make a good-faith effort to settle and discuss whether Austin has met the legal requirement of standing.
If the case does not settle, the parties must file a joint letter within 15 more days. The letter must say whether they want mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge, or an initial status conference, and must state whether the defendants plan to answer or ask the court to dismiss the complaint.
The defendants’ deadline to respond to the complaint is paused until the joint letter is filed; Judge Margaret M. Garnett will then set the response deadline or a schedule for a dismissal motion. The order did not decide standing or the merits of the claims.
The detailed version
- Austin v. Sukhumvit 51 Inc · No. 1:24-cv-09997
- Garnett
- Jan. 8, 2025
Order and required discussions
The court ordered the parties to meet and confer for at least one hour within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint on each defendant. The parties must make a good-faith effort to settle the action. They must also discuss whether Plaintiff has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the legal requirement that a plaintiff be entitled to bring the case. The order cited Calcano v. Swarovski N. Am. Ltd. and Harty v. W. Point Realty, Inc. in connection with that issue.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must discuss whether further settlement efforts through the court’s mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive.
Joint letter and response deadline
Within 15 additional days—45 days after service of the summons and complaint—the parties must submit a joint letter stating whether they settled. If they did not settle, the letter must request either referral to mediation or to a magistrate judge for a settlement conference, with a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
The letter must also state whether Defendants intend to answer the complaint or move to dismiss it. If Defendants intend to file a dismissal motion, the letter must briefly state the anticipated basis for that motion in no more than one paragraph.
The deadline for Defendants to answer or otherwise respond to the complaint is stayed, meaning paused, until the joint letter is submitted. After the letter is filed, the court will set either a deadline for Defendants to answer or a briefing schedule for a motion to dismiss.
Notice to counsel
Counsel who had entered an appearance when the order was issued must promptly provide all parties’ counsel who had not yet appeared with a copy of the order and Judge Garnett’s Individual Rules and Practices. Counsel must file proof of that notice with the court. If counsel does not know another party’s lawyer, counsel must send the order and rules directly to that party.
Disposition
This was a case-management and settlement order. The court did not rule on standing, the anticipated motion to dismiss, or the merits of the claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.