Wahab v. Karen Lazar Design, Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:24-cv-00584
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Wahab v. Karen Lazar Design, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Angela Wahab and Karen Lazar Design, Inc., who must comply with the court’s settlement-discussion and joint-letter requirements.
What happened
In Wahab v. Karen Lazar Design, Inc., the court ordered the parties to meet for at least one hour within 30 days after the summons and complaint are served, making a good-faith effort to settle the case.
The parties must also discuss whether Angela Wahab 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 45 days after service, the parties must file a joint letter stating whether they settled. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered them to request mediation or a magistrate-judge settlement conference if they did not settle, or ask for an initial status conference.
The detailed version
- Wahab v. Karen Lazar Design, Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-00584
- Rochon
- Jan. 29, 2024
What the court ordered
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 attempt to settle the action.
The parties must consider whether the plaintiff has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning whether she has the legal connection to the dispute required to invoke the court’s authority. The order cites Calcano v. Swarovski N. Am. Ltd. and Harty v. W. Point Realty, Inc. as examples concerning standing. The court did not decide the standing issue in this order.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must discuss whether further settlement discussions through the 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 stating whether they settled. If they did not settle, the letter must ask the court either to refer the case to mediation or to a magistrate judge for a settlement conference, while stating which option the parties prefer, or to proceed with an initial status conference.
Disposition and scope
This order sets settlement and case-management requirements. It does not resolve the parties’ underlying claims, decide standing, or state whether either side is likely to prevail.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.