Magistrate Judge Nathaniel Fox
Law firm Moulinos & Associates, represented plaintiffs in their suit charging Homecoming Financial and its codefendants with illegal predatory lending practices. Citing Francis v. Women’s Obstetrics & Gynecology Group, the court required defendants to pay plaintiffs $3,105 in attorney fees and costs as a sanction for defendants’ unpreparedness and lack of good faith at a Nov. 28, 2012, settlement conference. The court’s Aug. 13, 2012, order directing the parties to "come prepared on their scheduled date" to engage in settlement negotiations advised that any party violating its settlement conference Procedures "may be required to reimburse all other parties for their time and travel expenses." During the Nov. 28 conference defendants were unable to make a settlement offer because they failed to prepare for the conference by analyzing plaintiffs’ "loan modification package" despite their apparent receipt of the package. Thus defendants’ failure to prepare, by analyzing the "loan modification package" made it impossible for them to engage in good faith negotiations and rendered the settlement conference an empty exercise.
