Q: What happens in Federal Court after Initial discovery is over, defendant has offered me $ as settlement, but plaintiff?
Refused to accept, Plaintiff says double or triple the offer.
A: Typically in federal court the case will continue to proceed towards trial. The case management conference and order entered will usually spell out the deadlines for various steps along the path to trial. The parties are always able to voluntarily settle the case (and such agreement is encouraged), but must be achieved by mutual consent. If you can't agree, then there's no settlement and the case proceeds. Good luck!
A: The case goes to trial. Caveat: Unless the rejected settlement was made under the rule that allows for defendants' attorneys fees and costs if the plaintiff fails to win significantly more than the offer, plaintiff may regret not accepting the offer.
A:
The case moves to trial. It's a good time for plaintiff and attorney to sit down and assess strengths and weaknesses of case - and think about how those could affect the outcome at trial.
Tim Akpinar
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