Fields v. Walgreen Eastern Co., Inc.
- Rochon
- 1:24-cv-02750
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Fields v. Walgreen Eastern, Judge Rochon ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Billy Fields and the defendants, who must meet and confer, consider settlement-related options, and submit a joint letter on the required schedule.
What happened
Fields v. Walgreen Eastern Co., Inc. is a case in which the court ordered the parties to try to settle the action soon after the summons and complaint are served.
The parties must meet for at least one hour within 30 days and discuss whether the plaintiff has met the requirement of having standing to sue. If they cannot settle, they must also discuss whether court-connected mediation or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge would be useful.
Within 45 days of service, the parties must submit a joint letter stating whether they settled and, if not, asking either for mediation or a settlement conference or for an initial status conference. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon did not decide standing or the merits of the case in this order.
The detailed version
- Fields v. Walgreen Eastern Co., Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-02750
- Rochon
- Apr. 12, 2024
Order
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 discuss whether the plaintiff has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the requirement that a plaintiff be entitled to bring the case in federal court. The order cites Second Circuit decisions concerning standing but does not decide whether the plaintiff has standing.
Further proceedings
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must discuss whether additional settlement discussions through the district court’s mediation program or before a magistrate judge would be productive at that time.
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 the parties’ preference, or to proceed with an initial status conference.
Disposition
This is a procedural settlement and case-management order. It does not resolve the standing issue, the merits of the claims, or the parties’ ultimate rights.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.