Feb. 7 Settlement Conference Set in Crown Castle v. Black Electric

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Gesner for Maryland signed an order Friday (docket 1:22-cv-02497) scheduling a Feb. 7 remote settlement conference in Crown Castle’s infrastructure complaint against contractor Black Electric. She instructed each party to submit by Jan. 24 a short ex parte letter “candidly setting forth” the facts each side believes can be proved at trial, plus the history of settlement negotiations in the case. Gesner also directed both sides to exchange written settlement demands and responses beginning at least a month before the Feb. 7 conference. Crown Castle and Black Electric are “engaged in discussions” to resolve their legal fight or at least “narrow the issues in dispute,” they told the court Dec. 5 in a joint status report (see 2212060003). Crown Castle alleges Black Electric’s workers damaged a conduit holding telecommunications fiber that Crown Castle installed along Maryland's Hatem Bridge spanning the Susquehanna River, but Black Electric denies culpability and seeks to dismiss the complaint.