Court Refuses To Enforce Settlement Where Plaintiff Asserts She Did Not Agree to the Settlement

In the case of Vangjelli v. Banks, No. 19-CV-1635 (E.D. Pa. April 6, 2023 Bratter, J.), the court denied a Defendant’s Motion to Enforce a Settlement after finding that the Plaintiff asserted that she never agreed to the settlement and that the Plaintiff’s attorney had no express authority from the client to accept the proposed settlement.

The case arose out of issues related to the Plaintiff’s attempts to enter a Social Security Card Center and allegedly encountering trouble with a security guard. This led to the Plaintiff, at one point, being tackled by the security guard. The Plaintiff asserted various claims for personal injury as a result.

After the state court case was removed to federal court, the parties were referred to a magistrate judge for a Settlement Conference.

The magistrate judge was informed that the parties had settled the case. As such, the court dismissed the case with prejudice.

The Plaintiff then sent a letter to the court two (2) days later stating that she did not agree to settle and that her attorneys knew that. The Defendants filed the Motion to Enforce the Settlement at issue.

The court found a conflict of interests between the Plaintiff and her attorneys and granted the attorneys’ Motion to Withdraw. The Plaintiff did not secure new counsel.

The court construed the Plaintiff’s attorney’s letter to the court as a pro se Motion to Set Aside the Order of Dismissal.

Applying Pennsylvania law, the federal courts noted that counsel needed the express authority of the client to settle the case. The court stated that, express authority would not be found where, as here, the client had repudiated the attorney’s authority in a timely manner after the settlement.

Given that the evidence in this case showed a lack of clarity regarding the attorney’s express authority to settle the claims, the court denied the Defendant's Motion to Enforce the Settlement.

More specifically, the court saw and heard notable material gaps and inconsistencies in the testimony of the Plaintiff and her attorneys on the issues presented. The court also noted that none of the witnesses presented any documentary evidence.

It was indicated that there were two Settlement Conferences that were conducted via telephone. The record indicated that the Plaintiff was in the attorney’s office listening to the first conference but was not present for the second conference. While she was not present at the second conference, she had agreed to be available by telephone to discuss any settlement offers and to possibly authorize her attorneys to accept any offers.

The Plaintiff’s attorney testified that he conveyed the settlement offer to the Plaintiff, asked her if she wanted to settle, and that the Plaintiff had responded in the affirmative.

The attorney also testified that, when he called the Plaintiff back to tell her that the case had settled, the Plaintiff stated that she had changed her mind and no longer wanted to accept the offer.

During her testimony, the Plaintiff stated that she did not remember ever saying she wanted to accept the offer and that she had, instead, told her attorney to “go higher.”

Based upon the record before it, the court found that it could not conclude that the attorney for the Plaintiff ever had any expressed authority to accept the settlement agreement. Given that the contradictory testimonial evidence showed that there was not a meeting of the minds between the Plaintiff and her attorney as to what was said, let alone what was meant, the court denied the Petition to Enforce the Settlement.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.  The Court's Order on the case can be viewed HERE.


Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (April 27, 2023).

Source of image:  Photo by Cottonbro Studio on www.pexels.com.

Court Finds That Email Exchange Evidencing Basic Terms of Demand, Offer, Acceptance Supports Settlement of Claims

In the case of Hatchigan v. Kaplin Stewart, No. 3040 EDA 2018 (C.P. Phila. Co. Oct. 25, 2018 Anders, J.), the court found that the Defendants were entitled to enforce a settlement agreement of the parties reached by way of emails containing the essential terms of the Defendants’ settlement offer, the Plaintiff’s acceptance of the same, and the required consideration necessary to make a contract enforceable.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff also executed a Release that referred back to the email exchanges.  Issues arose in this matter between the parties thereafter and the defense filed a motion to enforce the settlement.

In this Rule 1925 Opinion issued by the trial court, that court recommended that the Superior Court affirm its decision enforcing the party’s settlement agreement.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions,” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Dec. 4, 2018)

Petition to Enforce Settlement Granted in Monroe County Case

In his recent decision in the case of Wise v. Hyundai Motor Company, No. 3777 Civil 2011 (C.P. Monroe Co. Dec. 16, 2016 Williamson, J.), Judge David J. Williamson addressed a Motion to Enforce Settlement and, after reviewing the law of whether a valid contract of settlement had been reached between the parties, granted the same.  

Anyone wishing to review this decision may click this LINK.

 

Source: “Digest of Recent Decisions” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (May 30, 2017).  

Petition to Enforce Medical Malpractice Settlement Granted in Lackawanna County

In his recent decision in the medical malpractice case of Brink v. Mallik, No. 2013-CV-1314 (C.P. Lacka. Co. June 9, 2017 Nealon, J.), Judge Terrence R. Nealon reviewed the current status of the law of settlements in his assessment of a Petition to Enforce a settlement.  In the end, the court granted the Petition and found that an apparent unilateral mistake by one party as to the scope of the terms of the settlement did not support a denial of the Petition.

Anyone wishing to review this case may click this LINK.

Court Addresses Ability of One Plaintiff's Estate to Intervene in a Petition for Court Approval of Another Plaintiff's Estate's Settlement in a Consolidated Matter

In a recent Opinion issued in the case of Coleman v. Bachert, No. S-890-2011 (C.P. Schuylkill Co. April 11, 2017 Goodman, J.), Judge James P. Goodman addressed an emergency motion filed by one estate of a deceased Plaintiff to challenge the settlement secured by the estate of another deceased Plaintiff in a consolidated personal injury civil litigation matter. 

This matter arose out of a motorcycle accident during which one Plaintiff’s decedent was operating the motorcycle and the other, separate Plaintiff’s decedent was a passenger on the motorcycle.   

Judge James P. Goodman
Schuylkill County

After the estate for the decedent passenger secured a settlement from the liability carrier under a single limit liability policy, the estate for the decedent driver requested permission of court to participate in the court approval proceedings relative to the wrongful death settlement in favor of the passenger decedent, asserting that the settlement of that claim could negatively affect the minor Plaintiffs associated with the estate for the decedent driver. 

The estate for the decedent passenger challenged the standing of the estate for the decedent driver to participate in the court’s proceedings for the approval of the settlement in favor of the decedent passenger.  

In part, the estate for the decedent driver asserted that the substantial proposed settlement in favor of the decedent passenger was unfair to the minors represented by the estate for the decedent driver in that it depleted the single liability limits available under the carrier’s policy.   The estate for the decedent driver requested the court to conduct an adjudication on the merits based upon an evidentiary record to review the appropriateness of the proposed settlement in favor of the decedent passenger and to consider the interests of the estate of decedent driver.  The estate of the decedent driver also requested permission for it to fully participate in the court approval of settlement proceedings relative to the settlement in favor of the plaintiff passenger.

In the alternative, the estate of the decedent driver contended that it had standing as a third party beneficiary to the liability carrier’s policy allegedly entitling that estate to participate in the hearing to approve the proposed settlement in favor of the other decedent’s estate.  

In his Opinion, Judge Goodman of the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas denied the emergency petition filed by the estate of the decedent driver.   In so ruling, the court found that the estate of the decedent driver was unable to provide the court with any legal interest or authority that the estate of the decedent driver had in the settlement between the settling Defendants (and that Defendant’s carrier), and the estate of the Plaintiff-passenger.  

The court noted that no case law or any other authority had been produced “that would prevent an insurance company from settling a case with one Plaintiff to the detriment of another Plaintiff or that would require the settlement to protect insurance funds for the non-settling Plaintiff.”  

Judge Goodman went on to state that “the case law supports that the insurance company is entitled to determine how to settle cases for policy limits, albeit, it must exercise good faith to its insured.” 

The court noted that the purpose of Rule 2206 is to ensure a fair settlement to a settling party.  Here, the estate of the decedent driver was not the settling party and was also noted to have interests that were adverse to the estate of the decedent passenger.   Accordingly, the court found that the estate of the decedent driver lacked standing under the rule to participate in the settlement approval proceedings between the settling Defendants and the estate of the Plaintiff passenger. 

The court also rejected the third party beneficiary argument presented by the estate of the decedent driver.   The court noted that there was no language in the insurance policy covering the Defendant that identified any injured party at a third party beneficiary to that contract.   As such, the court found that there was no support for the assertion that the estate of the decedent driver was a third party beneficiary of the liability policy.  

Judge Goodman otherwise also noted that “it is well-settled that under Pennsylvania law, an injured party has no right to directly sue the insurer of an alleged tortfeasor unless a provision of the policy or a statute creates such a right.”   [citations omitted].  

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this Opinion may click this LINK.

Enforceability of Written Waiver of Right to Seek Pa.R.C.P. 229.1 Damages Addressed

In the recent case of Markiewicz v. CVS Care Mart, Corp., No. 2014-CV-4043 (C.P. Lacka. Co. March 10, 2017 Nealon, J.), Judge Terrance R. Nealon of the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas addressed a Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions under Pa. R.C.P. 229.1 relative to a Defendant’s alleged failure to pay settlement funds within the twenty (20) day period required by that Rule.  

According to the Opinion, after the Defendant in this personal injury action failed to pay the settlement funds to the Plaintiff within twenty (20) days of the Defendant’s receipt of the executed Release, the Plaintiff filed a motion under Pa. R.C.P. 229.1 seeking to recover interest and counsel fees from the Defendant.  

The defense asserted that the Plaintiff had agreed in writing to waive the right to seek such additional damages or interest under Rule 229.1.   

However, the Plaintiff asserted that the Defendant subsequently breached the terms of the parties’ settlement agreement by deducting the full amount of the Medicare lien from the Plaintiff’s gross settlement and forwarding those funds directly to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, thereby depriving the Plaintiff of her ability to negotiate the Medicare lien down.  

Judge Nealon confirmed that the Plaintiff expressly waived any claim for additional damages or interests under Pa. R.C.P. 229.1 in the settlement agreement that the Plaintiff executed.   Accordingly, the court ruled that, based upon that clear and unambiguous language, the Plaintiff was unable to recover any such damages available under that rule.  

However, Judge Nealon went on to rule that, if the Defendant’s alleged actions violated the terms of the settlement agreement relative to the Medicare lien, the Plaintiff’s proper remedy was to file a Petition to Enforce the Settlement Agreement to recover any consequential damages for the Defendant’s alleged breach of that agreement. 

Accordingly, the Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions under Pa. R.C.P. 229.1 was denied without prejudice to the Plaintiff’s right to file a Petition to Enforce the Settlement Agreement.  

Anyone wishing to review Judge Nealon's decision in this case may click this LINK.

Plaintiff Secures Costs and Attorney's Fees On Petition to Enforce Settlement Agreement (Medicare Lien Issues)

In a continuing trend across the Commonwealth, Judge Kimberly McFadden of the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas granted a Plaintiff's Petition to Enforce a Settlement in the case of Williams v. Easton Coach Co., No. C-0048-CV-2015-10186.

The court awarded the Plaintiff costs and attorney's fees after Plaintiff was forced to file a Petition to Enforce a Settlement that was held up by the Defendant's refusal to accept the Plaintiff's proposed Final Settlement Detail Document designed to provide notice to Medicare of the Settlement.

In a detailed Order without Opinion, the Court ordered that the settlement go forth and awarded the Plaintiff costs and attorney's fees caused by the need to file the Petition.

I send thanks to Attorney Scott Cooper of the Harrisburg law firm of Schmidt Kramer for bringing this decision to my attention.

Anyone wishing to view the Court's Order along with the Plaintiff's Petition, may click this LINK.