Woods v. Covington

Citation Codes

Equivalent Citations

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Docket Number

3:18-cv-00664-MR

Judges

W. Carleton Metcalf United States Magistrate Judge.

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Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

This opinion addresses Defendants' Motion to Reschedule a previously set Judicial Settlement Conference and their Motion to be excused from personal attendance at the conference in the case of Woods v. Covington, involving claims against officers and officials at Scotland Correctional Institution. The court had scheduled a telephonic settlement conference originally set for August 26, 2021, with instructions for participation issued on August 9, 2021.

Legal Issues Presented

Whether the Judicial Settlement Conference should be rescheduled at Defendants' request.
Whether the individual Defendants—Ronald Covington, Daniel Barnes, and Alford Hunt—should be excused from personally attending the Judicial Settlement Conference.

Arguments of the Parties

Defendants' Arguments

Defendants requested that the Judicial Settlement Conference be rescheduled to a later date.
Defendants argued that they should be excused from personally attending the conference because the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS), their employer, is primarily responsible for monetary awards in the case.
They asserted that representatives of NCDPS would attend the conference and have authority to negotiate and enter into binding settlement agreements on behalf of the Defendants, citing N.C. G.S. §143-300.6(a) to support this position.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The court acknowledged Defendants' position that NCDPS representatives have authority to negotiate and settle on their behalf, recognizing the employer's statutory responsibility for monetary awards under N.C. G.S. §143-300.6(a). However, the court emphasized that as parties to the case, the individual Defendants have a vested interest in personally participating in the settlement conference. To mitigate any burden, the court noted that Defendants and their counsel may participate from separate physical locations on a single conference line, as previously ordered. Balancing these considerations, the court granted the request to reschedule the conference but denied the request to excuse Defendants from personal attendance.

Holding and Implications

GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

The Judicial Settlement Conference is rescheduled to Thursday, September 30, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. However, the individual Defendants—Ronald Covington, Daniel Barnes, and Alford Hunt—are required to personally attend the conference, though they may do so from separate locations on the same conference line. This decision directly affects the procedural scheduling and attendance requirements in the case but does not establish new legal precedent.

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TRAVON LEVI WOODS, Plaintiff, v. RONALD COVINGTON, Officer, Scotland Correctional Institution, DANIEL BARNES, Unit Manager, Scotland Correctional Institution, ALFORD HUNT, Correctional Officer, Scotland Correctional Institution Defendants.

W. Carleton Metcalf United States Magistrate Judge.

ORDER

W. Carleton Metcalf United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the undersigned on Defendants' Motion to Reschedule Judicial Settlement Conference and Motion to Excuse Attendance of Individual Defendants (the “Motion, ” Doc. 78).

A telephonic settlement conference has been set for Thursday, August 26, 2021 beginning at 1:00 p.m. The undersigned's Order of August 9, 2021 provided instructions regarding the parties' participation in that conference. Doc. 77.

By their Motion, Defendants ask that the Judicial Settlement Conference be rescheduled. For the reasons set forth in the Motion, Defendants' request will be allowed.

Additionally, Defendants ask that Ronald Covington, Daniel Barnes, and Alford Hunt (“Defendants”) be excused from personally attending the conference. Doc. 78 at 3. Defendants contend that this request is justified because the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (“NCDPS”), as Defendants' employer, is “primarily responsible for monetary awards, ” and because representatives of NCDPS “will attend the scheduled settlement conference and will have the ability to negotiate and enter into any binding settlement agreement on behalf of Defendants.” Id. See N.C. G.S. §143-300.6(a) (“The unit of State government that employed the employee shall pay the first one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150, 000) of liability”).

With respect to Defendants' participation, while defense counsel and the NCDPS representatives may have authority to negotiate and enter a binding settlement on behalf of Defendants, as parties to the case Defendants themselves have a vested interest in the matter and the undersigned otherwise believes Defendants' personal participation in the conference may be beneficial. In order to ensure that such participation is not unduly burdensome, the undersigned previously advised that Defendants and their counsel may participate in the settlement conference from different physical locations if they so choose, as long as they are on one conference line during the conference. See Doc. 77 at 2. Accordingly, Defendants' request that they be excused from personally participating in the conference will be denied.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT Defendants' Motion to Reschedule Judicial Settlement Conference and Motion to Excuse Attendance of Individual Defendants (Doc. 78) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as follows:

(1) Defendants' request that the Judicial Settlement Conference be rescheduled is GRANTED, and the Judicial Settlement Conference is RESET to Thursday, September 30, 2021 beginning at 1:00 p.m. All provisions of the undersigned's previous order regarding the Judicial Settlement Conference (Doc. 77) remain in effect.

(2) Defendants' request that Ronald Covington, Daniel Barnes, and Alford Hunt be excused from personally attending the conference is DENIED.

(3) The Clerk is respectfully directed to certify a copy of this Order to Ms. Alicia Baker at Bertie Correctional Institution.