Onuoha v. The City of New York
- Lewis Liman
- 1:23-cv-07489
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Onuoha v. The City of New York, Judge Tarnofsky sanctioned attorney Gary N. Rawlins $1,000 for missing a settlement conference and rescheduled it.
Attorney Gary N. Rawlins must pay the $1,000 sanction and comply with the order’s filing and document-production requirements. Ude Onuoha, the City of New York, and their counsel must participate in the rescheduled settlement process.
What happened
In Onuoha v. The City of New York, attorney Gary N. Rawlins and plaintiff Ude Onuoha failed to attend a court-ordered settlement conference, although the defendants’ attorney appeared. Rawlins later said he had COVID-19, but he had not told the court or opposing counsel that he would be absent.
The court sanctioned Rawlins under a federal rule allowing penalties for failing to attend a pretrial conference or obey a pretrial order. Rawlins must pay $1,000 to the court clerk, file proof of payment, and provide opposing counsel with specified medical records. The settlement conference was rescheduled for April 9, 2024.
Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky ordered the sanction and the new settlement-conference requirements. The order did not decide the underlying claims between Onuoha and the City of New York.
The detailed version
- Onuoha v. The City of New York · No. 1:23-cv-07489
- Lewis Liman
- Mar. 15, 2024
Background
Judge Lewis J. Liman referred the matter to a magistrate judge for settlement purposes on January 11, 2024. The referral was reassigned to Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky, who scheduled a settlement conference for March 14, 2024. Defendants’ counsel, Michael Finkelstein, attended. Plaintiff Ude Onuoha and his counsel, Gary N. Rawlins, did not attend.
Rawlins later explained that he had contracted COVID-19. Judge Tarnofsky stated that this did not explain why Rawlins failed to notify the court and Finkelstein that he would not attend. The court found that his conduct wasted the court’s and opposing counsel’s time and violated the order requiring him to appear.
Legal basis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(f)(1) permits a judge to issue appropriate orders when a party or attorney fails to attend a scheduling or other pretrial conference or fails to obey a pretrial order. The court explained that this rule applies to settlement conferences and that a finding of bad faith is not required. A violation of a pretrial order is enough to permit a sanction.
Ruling and required actions
Judge Tarnofsky ordered that Rawlins be sanctioned under Rule 16(f)(1) for failing to attend the settlement conference. He must pay $1,000 to the Clerk of Court by April 15, 2024, and file an affidavit of payment, including a copy of the clerk’s receipt, by April 16, 2024.
The court rescheduled the settlement conference for April 9, 2024, at noon, in Courtroom 9B at 500 Pearl Street, New York, New York. The order allowed a party facing hardship with in-person attendance to request a remote conference by letter. It also required corporate parties to send someone with authority to settle, required the parties to update and resubmit settlement-conference reports, and ordered Rawlins to provide Finkelstein with records from the first medical professional whom Onuoha consulted after his fall.
The order addressed attendance, sanctions, and settlement procedures; it did not resolve the underlying claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.