Opinion
3:08-CV-0667-ECR-RAM.
February 22, 2011
ORDER
On February 22, 2011, the Plaintiff filed a Stipulation for Dismissal (#73) of this action signed by both parties. Plaintiff concurrently filed a Status Report (#72), expressing misgivings about the settlement papers because no individual from the corporate defendant had signed them in behalf of Defendant, even though the attorney for the Defendant had signed the papers in its behalf.
An email from Plaintiff's attorney to Defendant's attorney sent February 18, 2011, states: "Likewise, I do not have an enforceable agreement with your client without their signature."
It appears that Plaintiff does not dispute the fact that the agreement stipulated to before Judge Cooke does not include a requirement that a corporate official for Defendant sign the final settlement papers in its behalf. In response to Plaintiff's concern expressed in her attorney's email of February 18, 2011, Defendant's counsel emailed Plaintiff's counsel urging him to file the stipulation for dismissal, which Plaintiff's counsel did, although indicating it was being filed concurrently with the status report.
Trial of this action is set to commence at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. A hearing is set for that time to determine whether there is, in fact, a settlement and dismissal of the case, in which event the trial setting will be vacated and the case stand dismissed.
In the event the court concludes that the matter is not settled, a new trial date will be set for the case at the hearing. Defense counsel may appear at the hearing by telephone if he wishes.
Dated this 22nd day of February, 2011.