Girotto v. Kate Spade & Company
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-04009
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Girotto v. Kate Spade, Judge Rochon ordered the parties to discuss settlement, including standing, and report whether they settled.
Luigi Girotto, Kate Spade & Company, and Chakrapani Corporation; the order requires the parties to participate in settlement discussions and submit a joint status letter.
What happened
In Girotto v. Kate Spade & Company, 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 Girotto meets the threshold requirement of standing, meaning a legal basis to bring the case.
If the parties cannot settle, they must also discuss whether mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge would be useful. Within 45 days after service, they must send the court a joint letter stating whether they settled and, if not, asking either for mediation or a magistrate-judge settlement conference or for an initial status conference.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon issued the order on May 16, 2023. The order did not decide whether Girotto has standing or resolve the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Girotto v. Kate Spade & Company · No. 1:23-cv-04009
- Rochon
- May 16, 2023
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. They must make a good-faith attempt to settle the action.
Standing discussion
The parties were specifically directed to consider whether Plaintiff Luigi Girotto satisfied the threshold requirement of standing—the requirement that a plaintiff have a legally sufficient basis to bring the case. The order cited Second Circuit decisions concerning standing, but it did not decide whether Girotto has standing.
Further settlement procedures and deadline
If the parties cannot settle the case themselves, they must discuss whether additional settlement efforts through the district court’s mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive at that time. Within 15 additional days—45 days after service of the summons and complaint—the parties must submit a joint letter telling the court whether they settled. If they did not settle, the joint letter must request either referral to mediation or a magistrate judge for a settlement conference, while stating a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
Disposition
Judge Rochon entered a case-management and settlement order. The opinion does not rule on standing, the merits of Girotto’s claims, or any motion to dismiss.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.