Bishop v. Harlem Wizards Entertainment Basketball, Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:25-cv-03047
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Bishop v. Harlem Wizards, Judge Rochon ordered the parties to discuss settlement and standing, then report whether to mediate or hold a status conference.
Cedric Bishop, the proposed class, and Harlem Wizards Entertainment Basketball, Inc.; the order requires the parties to conduct settlement discussions and report to the court.
What happened
In Bishop v. Harlem Wizards Entertainment Basketball, Inc., the court ordered the parties to meet and confer about settling the case within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint.
The parties must discuss whether the plaintiff has met the legal requirement of standing and, if they cannot settle, whether mediation or a settlement conference would help. Within 45 days after service, they must jointly tell the court whether they settled and, if not, request mediation or a settlement conference or ask for an initial status conference.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon did not decide standing, the merits of the claims, or whether the case may proceed as a class action; the order only set settlement and case-management requirements.
The detailed version
- Bishop v. Harlem Wizards Entertainment Basketball, Inc. · No. 1:25-cv-03047
- Rochon
- Apr. 16, 2025
Order
The court issued a case-management and settlement order in this putative class action brought by Cedric Bishop on behalf of himself and other similarly situated people against Harlem Wizards Entertainment Basketball, Inc.
Required settlement discussions
Within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint, the parties must meet and confer for at least one hour in a good-faith effort to settle the action. During those discussions, they must consider whether the plaintiff has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the legal requirement that a plaintiff is entitled to bring the case. The order cites two Second Circuit decisions concerning standing.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must also discuss whether further settlement discussions through the court-annexed mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive at that time.
Joint letter and next step
Within 15 additional days—45 days after service of the summons and complaint—the parties must submit a joint letter telling the court whether they settled. If they did not settle, the letter must request either referral to mediation or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge, with the parties stating their preference, or an initial status conference.
What the court did not decide
The order did not decide whether the plaintiff has standing, whether any claim is legally valid, or whether the case can proceed as a class action. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered settlement discussions and specified the parties’ reporting and case-management obligations.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.