Local Rule LR 16.1: FED. R. CIV. P. 16 PRETRIAL AND SCHEDULING ORDERS AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDINGS

LR 16.1 FED. R. CIV. P. 16 PRETRIAL AND SCHEDULING ORDERS AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDINGS

(a) Every party shall have in attendance at all pretrial conferences an attorney or other person possessing full authority to bind that party regarding all matters previously identified by the Court for discussion at the conference and all reasonably related matters.

(b) Scheduling and Settlement Conferences in Civil Cases. All scheduling and settlement conferences may be conducted by the District Judge or Magistrate Judge to whom the case is assigned, or by another District Judge or Magistrate Judge who agrees to conduct the conference at the request of the Judge to whom the case is assigned.

(c) Confidentiality of ADR Proceedings.

(1) In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 652(d), any ADR process conducted in a case pending in the Court is confidential. By entering into such a process, the parties mutually covenant with one another to preserve confidentiality. The parties, their counsel, and the neutral are prohibited from disclosing to the presiding judge or to a third party any information regarding communications or expressive conduct made during settlement proceedings except as specified in this Rule. Evidence about such communications shall not be admissible in any subsequent proceeding except as permitted by the Federal Rules of Evidence.

(2) Communications deemed confidential by this Rule may be disclosed, if such disclosure is not otherwise prohibited by law, only in the following circumstances:

(A) All parties consent to the disclosure of the communication; or

(B) The judicial officer who would otherwise enter judgment in the case or, in the event of the unavailability of that judicial officer, the Chief District Judge, conducts an in camera hearing or comparable proceeding and determines that evidence of the content of the communication is not otherwise available and that there is a compelling need for the evidence which substantially outweighs the policy favoring confidentiality.

(C) The confidentiality of information disclosed during ADR proceedings does not prohibit or limit (i) the Court from collecting information relative to evaluation of the ADR process, (ii) a party from disclosing the final resolution and settlement reached unless the parties have agreed to the confidentiality of same, and (iii) a party from making such disclosures as required by law.