In Chaichian v. Sentinel Ins. Co. Ltd., No. 1:16-cv-01026, 2017 WL 4899232 (W.D. Ark. October 3, 2017) (Bryant, USMJ), a U.S. Magistrate Judge was confronted with three motions concerning settlement of the case.
First, the facts at the time the USMJ confronted these three motions. The plaintiff, proceeding pro se or without a lawyer, signed a so-called "release agreeement" which set out the parties' settlement terms.
The "release agreement" was filed under seal.
The plaintiff was paid the money set out in the release agreement.
The plaintiff thereafter refused to sign a proposed stipulation of dismissal which the defendants had written for her.
The defendants' proposed stipulation of dismissal was also filed under seal.
The USMJ reviewed the sealed documents and then decided the three motions.
One of the motions was filed by the pro se plaintiff. She asked to enforce what she said was her settlement agreement with Sentinel Insurance Co. and SWBC Insurance Services, the only two defendants remaining at the time.
The second of the three motions confronting the USMJ was the defendants' motion to enforce "actual settlement."
The third and final motion which the USMJ confronted in that case was the defendants' motion to strike the first motion, i.e., to strike the pro se plaintiff's motion to enforce settlement agreement.
He granted the defendants' motion to strike the plaintiff's motion to enforce settlement, "because," he said, "Plaintiff's motion contains confidential information and is otherwise unmerited.
We will never know what was actually in the sealed materials, only what the USMJ said about them and in a footnote he remarked how careful he was not to reveal confidential information.
At no time did the U.S. Magistrate Judge report, let alone recommend, that any part of this secret material might not be confidential or that some or all of it might not merit sealing it from public view.
Nonetheless, he read the secret material, kept it sealed, announced his report and recommendation, and included a recommendation that the plaintiff's case be dismissed with prejudice.
To be continued with the U.S. District Judge's order approving the USMJ's Report and Recommendation on Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog.
Dennis Wall is currently at work on his fifth book, which will address how concealed evidence and secret settlements take our money, foreclose on our homes, and change our lives.
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