Volfman v. 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-09225
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Volfman v. 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Joseph Volfman and the defendants, including 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC and the other defendants identified in the caption, must follow the settlement-discussion and joint-letter requirements.
What happened
In Volfman v. 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC, the court ordered the parties to try to settle the case early. The order does not describe the claims or decide whether either side is legally right.
Within 30 days after service of the summons and complaint, the parties must meet for at least one hour and make a good-faith effort to settle. They must discuss whether Joseph Volfman has met the legal requirement of standing and whether court-connected mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge would be useful if they cannot settle themselves.
Within 15 more days, the parties must send a joint letter stating whether they settled. If not, they must ask for mediation or a magistrate-judge settlement conference, stating their preference, or request an initial status conference. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon issued the order on October 23, 2023.
The detailed version
- Volfman v. 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC · No. 1:23-cv-09225
- Rochon
- Oct. 23, 2023
Order
Judge Rochon 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.
The parties must consider whether Joseph Volfman has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing. Standing is the requirement that a plaintiff be legally entitled to bring a claim in federal court. The order cited Second Circuit decisions concerning standing but did not decide whether Volfman has standing.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must also discuss whether further settlement discussions through the district court’s mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive at that time.
Required joint letter
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 have settled. If they have not settled, the letter must request either referral to mediation or to a magistrate judge for a settlement conference, with a preference between those options, or an initial status conference.
Disposition and effect
This is a case-management and settlement order. The court did not rule on the merits of the action, resolve standing, dismiss any claim, or enter judgment. The requirements apply to Joseph Volfman and the named defendants, including 265 Lafayette Ristorante LLC and the other defendants identified in the caption.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.