Hernandez v. Red Flower, Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-07571
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Hernandez v. Red Flower, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Janelys Hernandez and Red Flower, Inc., the parties required to participate in settlement discussions and file the joint letter.
What happened
Hernandez v. Red Flower, Inc. concerns an order requiring the parties to try to settle the action soon after the summons and complaint are served.
Within 30 days, the parties must meet for at least one hour and discuss settlement, including whether Hernandez has met the legal requirement of having standing to sue. If they cannot settle, they must also consider court-connected mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge.
Within 15 more days, the parties must file a joint letter stating whether they settled and, if not, requesting mediation, a magistrate-judge settlement conference, or an initial status conference. Judge Rochon did not decide standing or any other merits issue.
The detailed version
- Hernandez v. Red Flower, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-07571
- Rochon
- Aug. 30, 2023
Order
The court ordered Janelys Hernandez and Red Flower, Inc. 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 attempt to settle the action.
The parties must discuss whether Hernandez has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning a sufficient legal connection to the dispute to invoke the court’s authority. The order cites Second Circuit decisions concerning standing but does not decide whether Hernandez has standing.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must discuss whether further settlement discussions through the district’s court-annexed 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 must submit a joint letter stating whether they settled. If they did not settle, the letter must request either mediation or a magistrate-judge settlement conference, with a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
Disposition
The court entered case-management and settlement-related directives. It did not resolve the parties’ underlying legal claims, standing, or the merits of the action.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.