Valencia v. L'Industrie WV, LLC

Order

The court ordered the parties to meet and confer for at least one hour within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint. The meeting must include a good-faith effort to settle the action.

The parties were specifically directed to consider whether Justin Valencia has met the threshold requirement of standing. Standing is the requirement that a plaintiff have a sufficient connection to the dispute to ask a court to decide it. The order cites two Second Circuit decisions concerning standing, but it does not decide whether Valencia has standing.

If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must also discuss whether additional settlement efforts through the court-annexed mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive at that time.

Required Joint Letter

Within 15 additional days—45 days after service of the summons and complaint—the parties must submit a joint letter stating whether they have settled. If they have not settled, the letter must ask the court either to refer the case to mediation or to a magistrate judge for a settlement conference, while stating the parties’ preference between those options, or to proceed with an initial status conference.

The order sets settlement and case-management requirements. It does not resolve the merits of Valencia’s claims, decide the standing issue, or state whether the case will proceed as a class action.