Opinion
Case No. 4:03CV3189.
April 9, 2008
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
The parties have filed a "Joint Motion and Stipulation for Approval of Settlement" (filing 171). They ask me to "approve" the settlement agreement.
I am willing to grant the motion and "approve" the stipulation and related settlement agreement with the following understanding:
(1) I make no determination that the settlement agreement is good or bad or fair or unfair.
(2) With the exception that I will resolve the attorney fee question as contemplated by the settlement agreement, I retain no jurisdiction to enforce or construe the settlement agreement in the future. Furthermore, my "approval" of the settlement agreement does not suggest that there would later be federal jurisdiction to construe or enforce the terms of the settlement agreement. In other words, the settlement agreement is merely a contract between the parties and my "approval" of it confers no other status.
(3) Plaintiffs' counsel will be understood to have represented to me that each person signing the settlement agreement for a disabled person has the authority to do so.
With the foregoing in mind,
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. No later than the close of business on April 17, 2008, a lawyer for the plaintiffs shall file in the court file a response making one of the two statements described below:
A. Having read the Court's memorandum and order of April 9, 2008, the plaintiffs request the court to grant the joint motion and stipulation for approval of settlement appearing at filing 171.
B. Having read the Court's memorandum and order of April 9, 2008, the plaintiffs request the court to deny the joint motion and stipulation for approval of settlement appearing at filing 171.
2. No later than the close of business on April 17, 2008, a lawyer for the defendants shall file in the court file a response making one of the two statements described below:
A. Having read the Court's memorandum and order of April 9, 2008, the defendants request the court to grant the joint motion and stipulation for approval of settlement appearing at filing 171.
B. Having read the Court's memorandum and order of April 9, 2008, the defendants request the court to deny the joint motion and stipulation for approval of settlement appearing at filing 171.
3. Failure to timely comply with this memorandum and order may result in the imposition of sanctions including, but not limited to, those detailed in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2).