Hernandez v. Oxford Industries, Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-08362
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Hernandez v. Oxford Industries, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Marlelis Hernandez and Oxford Industries, Inc., who were ordered to pursue settlement discussions and report jointly to the court.
What happened
In Hernandez v. Oxford Industries, Inc., the court ordered Marlelis Hernandez and Oxford Industries, Inc. 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 Hernandez has standing to bring the case.
If the parties cannot settle, they must also discuss whether court-connected mediation or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge would be useful. Within 15 more days, they must submit a joint letter stating whether they settled.
If no settlement was reached, the parties had to 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 did not decide standing or any other merits issue.
The detailed version
- Hernandez v. Oxford Industries, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-08362
- Rochon
- Sept. 28, 2023
Order
The court ordered Marlelis Hernandez and Oxford Industries, Inc. to meet and confer for at least one hour within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint. The parties must make a good-faith attempt to settle the action.
Standing Discussion
The order directed the parties to consider whether Hernandez satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the legal requirement that a person have a sufficient connection to the dispute to invoke the court’s authority. The court cited Second Circuit decisions concerning standing but did not decide whether Hernandez had standing.
Further Settlement Procedures
If the parties could not settle the case themselves, they also had to discuss whether additional 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 had to submit a joint letter informing the court 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.
Disposition
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon entered a case-management and settlement order. The opinion did not resolve the standing issue, the parties’ claims or defenses, or the merits of the action.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.