Willis RE Inc. v. Littell
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:19-cv-09087
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Willis RE Inc. v. Littell, Judge Caproni canceled deadlines and ordered dismissal with prejudice unless the parties objected before December 14 after reaching a settlement.
Willis RE Inc., David Littell, and Lockton Re, LLC were affected by the canceled deadlines and the conditional dismissal order.
What happened
Willis RE Inc. v. Littell involved a dispute that the parties told the court they had agreed in principle to resolve through a settlement.
The court canceled all previously scheduled conferences and other deadlines. It ordered that the case would be dismissed with prejudice and without costs, including attorneys’ fees, on December 14, 2019, unless a party filed a letter before then explaining why the case should not be dismissed.
Judge Valerie Caproni also said the parties had to submit their settlement agreement and request that the court retain authority to enforce it by December 7, 2019, if they wanted that authority retained. The order did not decide the underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- Willis RE Inc. v. Littell · No. 1:19-cv-09087
- Valerie Caproni
- Nov. 13, 2019
Background
On November 12, 2019, the parties notified the court that they had reached an agreement in principle resolving all issues in the action.
Order
The court canceled all previously scheduled conferences and other deadlines. It ordered that the action would be dismissed with prejudice and without costs, including attorneys’ fees, to either party on December 14, 2019, unless one or more parties filed a letter before that date requesting that the action not be dismissed and explaining why dismissal was inappropriate in light of the settlement. The order stated that a request filed on or after December 14 could be denied solely because it was late.
Settlement Enforcement
The court stated that, if the parties wanted it to retain jurisdiction—meaning legal authority—to enforce their settlement agreement, they had to submit the agreement and request an order expressly retaining that authority by December 7, 2019. The opinion does not state whether the parties submitted that request or whether the action was later dismissed.
Disposition
The court entered a conditional order providing for dismissal with prejudice and without costs on December 14, 2019, subject to a timely request not to dismiss. Judge Valerie Caproni did not resolve the underlying dispute on its merits.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.