ORDER SETTING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

ALLISON H. GODDARD, Magistrate Judge.

Although the case did not settle at the Early Neutral Evaluation Conference, the Court deemed that continued one-on-one conversations with counsel for both sides may be productive. Thus, the Court held telephonic status conferences on December 11, 2019 and March 3, 2020. ECF Nos. 13, 17. After these conversations, the Court finds that a Settlement Conference will be beneficial to the parties.1 Accordingly, the Court SETS a Settlement Conference for May 20, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. in the chambers of Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard, located at 221 West Broadway, Suite 3142, San Diego, California 92101.

The Court issues the following mandatory procedures to be followed in preparation for the Settlement Conference:

1. Personal appearance of parties is required. All named parties, party representatives, including claims adjusters for insured defendants, as well as principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation must be present in person. All who attend the Settlement Conference must be legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case. Counsel appearing without their clients (whether or not counsel has been given settlement authority) will be subject to immediate imposition of sanctions.

2. Full settlement authority is required. A party or party representative with full and complete authority to enter into a binding settlement must be present at the Settlement Conference. Full authority to settle means that a person must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648, 653 (7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have "unfettered discretion and authority" to change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int'l, Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 485-86 (D. Ariz. 2003). One of the purposes of requiring a person with unlimited settlement authority to attend the conference is that the person's view of the case may be altered during the face-to-face conference. Id. at 486. Limited or sum certain authority is not adequate. Nick v. Morgan's Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595-97 (8th Cir. 2001). A person who needs to call another person who is not present before agreeing to any settlement does not have full authority.

3. Confidential Settlement Conference Statements Required: No later than May 15, 2020, the parties shall submit confidential statements directly to the chambers of Magistrate Judge Goddard. These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing counsel. They shall be lodged via email at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. The Settlement Conference statement is limited to five (5) pages or less, and up to five (5) pages of exhibits or declarations. Each party's Settlement Conference statement must outline:

IT IS SO ORDERED.