Brown v. Seroogy's Holiday House, Ltd.
- Rochon
- 1:22-cv-10171
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Brown v. Seroogy’s Holiday House, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint update, while directing the parties to address standing.
The plaintiffs, Lamar Brown and the other plaintiffs, and defendant Seroogy’s Holiday House, Ltd., must participate in the ordered settlement discussions and submit the required joint letter.
What happened
In Brown v. Seroogy’s Holiday House, Ltd., the court ordered the plaintiffs and defendant to meet for at least one hour within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint. The parties must make a good-faith effort to settle and discuss whether the plaintiff has met the threshold requirement of standing, meaning a sufficient connection to bring the case.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must also discuss whether mediation through the court’s program or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge would be useful. They must then submit a joint letter within 15 additional days stating whether they settled.
If the case remains unresolved, the joint letter must request mediation or a magistrate-judge settlement conference, identifying a preference, or ask the court to hold an initial status conference. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon did not decide standing or the merits of the case in this order.
The detailed version
- Brown v. Seroogy's Holiday House, Ltd. · No. 1:22-cv-10171
- Rochon
- Dec. 6, 2022
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 be a good-faith effort to settle the action. The parties were specifically directed to consider whether the plaintiff satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, which concerns whether a plaintiff has the required connection to pursue a claim in federal court. The order cited Second Circuit decisions discussing standing but did not decide whether standing exists here.
The court also ordered the parties to discuss whether additional settlement efforts through the court-annexed mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive if they could not settle themselves.
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 settled. If they did not settle, the letter must request either referral to mediation or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge, with a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
Disposition and effect
This is a case-management and settlement order. It does not resolve the standing issue, decide the merits of the claims, or enter judgment. The parties are affected because they must complete the settlement discussions and submit the required joint letter within the specified periods.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.