Riley v. Discount Office Items, Inc.
- Garnett
- 1:24-cv-03833
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Riley v. Discount Office Items, Judge Garnett ordered settlement discussions and a joint status letter without deciding the case’s merits.
Amanie Riley, Discount Office Items, Inc., and their counsel are affected by the required settlement discussions, joint reporting deadline, and notice obligations.
What happened
In Riley v. Discount Office Items, Inc., the court ordered the parties to meet for at least one hour within 30 days after the summons and complaint are served. They must make a good-faith effort to settle and discuss whether Amanie Riley has standing, meaning a sufficient legal basis 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 45 days after service, they must submit a joint letter stating whether they settled and, if not, requesting mediation, a magistrate-judge conference, or an initial status conference.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett also directed counsel who have appeared to notify other parties or their counsel of the order and the court’s individual rules, and to file proof of that notice. The order did not decide standing, liability, or any other merits issue.
The detailed version
- Riley v. Discount Office Items, Inc. · No. 1:24-cv-03833
- Garnett
- May 21, 2024
Background
Amanie Riley brought this action individually and on behalf of others similarly situated against Discount Office Items, Inc. The opinion is an administrative and settlement-related order. It does not describe the underlying claims or decide whether the action may proceed as a class action.
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. They must make a good-faith attempt to settle the action. During those discussions, they should consider whether Riley has satisfied the threshold requirement of standing, meaning the legal requirement that a plaintiff have a sufficient connection to the dispute to bring the case.
If the parties cannot settle on their own, they must also discuss whether further settlement discussions through the 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 request either referral to mediation or a settlement conference before a magistrate judge, while stating which option the parties prefer, or an initial status conference.
Notice to Counsel
Counsel who had filed notices of appearance when the order was issued must promptly serve the order and Judge Garnett’s Individual Rules and Practices on counsel for parties who had not appeared. If the receiving counsel did not know the identity of another party’s counsel, the receiving counsel must send those materials directly to that party. Counsel must file proof of the notice with the court.
Disposition and Scope
The court entered the settlement and case-management directives described above. It did not rule on standing or decide the merits of Riley’s claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.