Case Information
*1 Case 2:03-cv-01277-WJM-MF Document 62 Filed 01/04/08 Page 1 of 2 PageID: 1174
U N I T E D S T A T E S D I S T R I C T C O U R T
D I S T R I C T O F N E W J E R S E Y M AR TIN LU THER KIN G JR . FED ER AL BLD G . & U .S. C O U R THO U SE 50 W ALN U T ST R EET, P.O . BO X 419 N EW AR K, N J 07101-0419
(973) 645-6340
WILLIAM J. MARTINI
JUDGE
LETTER OPINION January 4, 2008 Frank Holahan
McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLC
40 West Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
( Attorney for Plaintiff )
Barry Alan Kozyra
Kozyra & Hartz, LLC
75 Eisenhower Parkway
Roseland, NJ 07068-1777
( Attorney for Defendant )
RE: World Finer Foods, Inc., et al. v. Archway Cookies, LLC. Civ. No. 03-1277 (WJM)
Dear Counsel:
This letter is in reply to the parties’ joint letter of December 28, 2007. The primary criticism the Court expressed in its December 17 letter was with counsels’ phone call on the eve of trial requesting that they have another opportunity to confer with the Court regarding settlement in the morning before selecting the jury. This request in the Court’s opinion should have been made a few days or even a day earlier, which would have prevented the Court from summoning jurors to the courthouse and allowed for a more orderly settlement discussion. Without reciting a detailed procedural *2 Case 2:03-cv-01277-WJM-MF Document 62 Filed 01/04/08 Page 2 of 2 PageID: 1175 history of the settlement efforts in this case, the Court did participate in those efforts on several occasions and would have made and indeed did make itself available for such purposes when requested.
Further, your suggestion that it’s the norm that settlements commonly occur at the proverbial courthouse steps has simply not been this Court’s experience. In fact, such last minute settlements occur with decreasing frequency in today’s modern practice. Indeed they are quite rare.
Finally, you were perhaps not aware but the Court did visit the jurors and thanked them for their patience and their willingness to serve.
s/ William J. Martini William J. Martini, U.S.D.J.
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