Senior v. David Lewis Gallery, LLC
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:22-cv-05561
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Senior v. David Lewis Gallery, Judge Caproni dismissed the case with prejudice after a settlement agreement in principle, without binding absent class members.
Milagros Senior and David Lewis Gallery, LLC were directly affected by the dismissal and settlement. Absent putative class members were not bound by the dismissal or any settlement.
What happened
In Senior v. David Lewis Gallery, LLC, the parties told the court they had reached an agreement in principle resolving all issues.
The court cancelled scheduled conferences and deadlines, dismissed the case with prejudice without costs or attorneys’ fees to either party, terminated open motions, and closed the case.
Judge Caproni allowed the parties 30 days to seek reopening for good cause or ask the court to retain authority to enforce their settlement. Because the parties did not follow the procedure for class settlements, the dismissal and settlement applied only to Milagros Senior and David Lewis Gallery, LLC, not to absent people who might have been part of the proposed class.
The detailed version
- Senior v. David Lewis Gallery, LLC · No. 1:22-cv-05561
- Valerie Caproni
- July 19, 2022
Background
Milagros Senior brought the case on behalf of herself and other similarly situated people against David Lewis Gallery, LLC. On July 18, 2022, the parties notified the court that they had reached an agreement in principle resolving all issues.
Court’s Action
The court cancelled all previously scheduled conferences and other deadlines. It dismissed the case with prejudice and without costs, including attorneys’ fees, to either party. The court directed the Clerk of Court to terminate all open motions and close the case.
The court said the parties could apply to reopen the case within 30 days. Such an application had to show good cause for keeping the case open despite the settlement. The court also stated that, if the parties wanted it to retain authority to enforce their settlement agreement, they had to submit the agreement and request an order expressly retaining that authority within the same 30-day period.
Effect on the Proposed Class
The court directed the Clerk to remove from the caption the language stating that Senior sued individually and on behalf of others similarly situated. The parties had not told the court that they intended to follow Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e), which governs settlements and dismissals involving a class. As a result, the dismissal and any settlement applied only between Senior and David Lewis Gallery, LLC and did not bind absent members of the proposed class.
Disposition
Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed the case with prejudice and without costs to either party, closed the case, and ordered the caption amended. The order did not bind absent putative class members.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.