Mark your calendar: Feb. 27, 10 a.m. PST, 255 East Temple St., Los Angeles, in Courtroom 580 – 5th floor.

Both sides in the civil suit that pits the NCUA against onetime senior executives of the failed corporate credit union WesCorp have been summoned to that meeting to discuss a pre-trial settlement.

In the court-issued notification, the parties were sternly advised to appear in person (“Requests by parties for permission to appear telephonically are highly disfavored”).  The court also asked that parties set aside the full day for the conference.

Third party observers advise not holding one's breath however. Such settlement conferences apparently are a pro forma norm in that district and, in this instance, observers are convinced that the sides remain very far apart, that no settlement is within reach.

A 2013 trial is still expected by observers

A bitter and unresolved dispute has continued to revolve around claims made by the onetime WesCorp executives that their legal fees should be covered by insurance that had been provided by the corporate credit union. The NCUA continues to oppose any such payments.

Observers indicated there may be movement towards settlement on that one issue, although nobody is offering guesses about how this might be resolved.