(PC) Howell v. Gallagher et al, No. 1:2019cv00673 - Document 22 (E.D. Cal. 2020)

Court Description: ORDER Regarding Early Settlement Conference and ORDER Directing Clerk to Serve Supervising Deputy Attorney General Christopher Becker With a Copy of: 1) Plaintiff's Complaint 1 ; 2) The Order for Plaintiff 9 ; 3) The Findings and Recommendations 11 ; and 4) This Order signed by Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean on 3/31/2020. Notice re Settlement due within thirty (30) days. (Jessen, A)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 KAREEM J. HOWELL, 11 12 Plaintiff, v. 13 J. GALLAGHER, et al., 14 Defendant(s). 15 16 Case No. 1:19-cv-00673-AWI-EPG (PC) ORDER REGARDING EARLY SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE ORDER DIRECTING CLERK TO SERVE SUPERVISING DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL CHRISTOPHER BECKER WITH A COPY OF: 1) PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT (ECF NO. 1); 2) THE ORDER FOR PLAINTIFF (ECF NO. 9); 3) THE FINDING AND RECOMMENDATIONS (ECF NO. 11); AND 4) THIS ORDER 17 18 19 Kareem J. Howell (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma 20 pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court has screened 21 Plaintiff’s complaint and found it states at least one cognizable claim against Defendants J. 22 Burnes, J. Gallagher, and A. Randolph (collectively, “Defendants”). (ECF No. 9.) The United 23 States Marshals Service has accomplished service of process on at least one of the Defendants. 24 The Court now directs the Plaintiff and Defendants to participate in a settlement 25 conference before a Magistrate Judge to see if the case can reach a settlement before going 26 further in litigation. Neither side is waiving any claims, defenses, or objections by participating 27 in this settlement conference. 28 1 1 Defense counsel is directed to consider Plaintiff’s claim(s) and speak with Plaintiff 2 following this order. If, after investigating Plaintiff’s claim(s) and speaking with Plaintiff, and 3 conferring with defense counsel’s supervisor, defense counsel in good faith finds that a 4 settlement conference would not be productive at this time, defense counsel may opt out of this 5 settlement conference by filing a notice with the Court, in which case the matter will proceed to 6 litigation without an early settlement conference. 7 If defense counsel does not opt out of the settlement conference, the Court will issue 8 separate order(s) setting the settlement conference and detailing the pre-settlement conference 9 procedures in due course.1 10 Two weeks after the issuance of the order setting the settlement conference, in order to 11 better inform all parties and have a meaningful conference, the Court is requiring that both 12 parties disclose certain documents to each other about the case, as listed below. These 13 documents are relevant to the case and will most likely be disclosed in discovery shortly if this 14 case goes to litigation.2 15 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 16 1. Within thirty days from the date of service of this order, the assigned Deputy 17 Attorney General shall either: (1) file a notice that Defendant(s) opt out of the 18 settlement conference; or (2) contact ADR Coordinator Sujean Park 19 (spark@caed.uscourts.gov) to schedule the settlement conference.3 If the 20 assigned Deputy Attorney General does not opt out of the settlement conference, 21 the Court will issue an order setting a settlement conference. That order will 22 include the date of the conference and the Magistrate Judge who will oversee the 23 conference, and may also include procedures required by that Judge.4 24 25 26 27 28 1 The settlement judge will determine whether the conference will be conducted in person, by video, or over the phone after the conference has been scheduled, being mindful of the evolving COVID-19 crisis. 2 If any party has a legal objection to providing a particular document, that party shall file and serve a notice describing its objection. 3 The Court may issue a separate order setting a scheduling conference and ordering initial disclosures, or may already have done so. If difficulties arise in scheduling the settlement conference prior to the initial scheduling conference, the parties may file a request for the Court to continue the initial scheduling conference. 4 The undersigned will not be the Magistrate Judge overseeing the settlement conference. 2 1 2. If a settlement conference is set, no later than two weeks after the date of service 2 of the order setting the settlement conference, each party shall send the other 3 parties, or their attorneys (if represented), the documents listed below. The 4 parties only need to provide documents related to the claim(s) that the Court 5 allowed to proceed past the screening stage. Additionally, Defense counsel does 6 not need to include any documents that defense counsel believes are confidential 7 or subject to the official information privilege at this time. Plaintiff does not 8 need to request any documents from the institution at this time. Plaintiff only 9 needs to provide these documents if Plaintiff already has them in his or her 10 possession. Defense counsel shall send copies of the following documents to 11 Plaintiff and Plaintiff shall send copies to counsel for Defendant(s): 12 13 a. Documents regarding exhaustion of Plaintiff’s claims, including 602s, Form 22s, and responses from the appeals office; 14 b. All non-confidential documents regarding Rules Violation Reports, if 15 any exist, associated with the incident(s) alleged in the complaint, 16 including disciplinary charges and findings; 17 18 19 20 21 22 c. All of Plaintiff’s medical records related to the incident and/or condition at issue in the case, if any exist; d. Chronos for transfer or Administrative Segregation placement related to the incident(s) alleged in the complaint, if any exist; and e. Non-confidential incident reports regarding the use of force incident(s) alleged in the complaint, if any exist; 23 Additionally, the parties may send any other documents related to the case that 24 the parties believe will assist in the settlement conference. 25 3. The parties remain obligated to keep the Court informed of their current address. 26 Any change of address must be reported promptly to the Court in a separate 27 document captioned for this case and entitled “Notice of Change of Address.” 28 See L.R. 182(f). 3 1 4. The Clerk of Court shall serve Supervising Deputy Attorney General 2 Christopher Becker with a copy of: (1) Plaintiff’s complaint (ECF No. 1); (2) the 3 Order for Plaintiff (ECF No. 9); (3) the Court’s Finding and Recommendations 4 (ECF No. 11); and (4) this order. 5 6 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: March 31, 2020 /s/ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4

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