(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.
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