Sookul v. Lone Star Comics, Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:22-cv-09191
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Sookul v. Lone Star Comics, Judge Rochon ordered the parties to discuss settlement, consider standing, and report whether they settled.
The plaintiffs and Lone Star Comics, the defendant, were required to participate in settlement discussions and jointly report to the court.
What happened
In Sookul v. Lone Star Comics, the court ordered the parties to meet for at least one hour within 30 days after the summons and complaint were served. They must make a good-faith effort to settle and discuss whether the plaintiff has met the basic requirement of standing to sue.
If they cannot settle, the parties must also discuss whether mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge would be useful. Within 15 more days, they must send the court a joint letter stating whether they settled.
If the case was not settled, the joint letter must ask the court either to refer the case to mediation or a magistrate judge, or to schedule an initial status conference. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon issued this order on November 1, 2022; the order did not decide the merits of the case.
The detailed version
- Sookul v. Lone Star Comics, Inc. · No. 1:22-cv-09191
- Rochon
- Nov. 1, 2022
Order
The court ordered the parties to meet and confer within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint. The meeting must last at least one hour and must be a good-faith attempt to settle the action.
Standing Discussion
The court directed the parties to consider whether the plaintiff had satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the legal requirement to show that the plaintiff is entitled to bring the case. The order cited decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit but did not decide whether standing existed.
Further Steps
If the parties could not settle the case themselves, they were ordered to discuss whether additional settlement efforts through the court's mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive. Within 15 additional days—45 days after service of the summons and complaint—the parties had to submit a joint letter stating whether they had settled. If they had not settled, the letter had to request either referral to mediation or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge, with a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
Effect of the Order
This order addressed settlement discussions and case management. It did not grant or deny a dispositive motion and did not resolve the parties' underlying claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.