Enforcing Settlement Agreement Under CCP 664.6 Requires Strict Compliance With Statute
The next case teaches us about the need to strictly comply with Cal. Code Civ. Proc. section 664.6 in order to enforce a settlement agreement under that provision. Hampton-Mitchell v. Mitchell, Case No. B228988 (2nd Dist. Div. 7 June 20, 2012) (Zelon, J., author) (not for publication).
The case started out as a lawsuit between wife (Hampton-Mitchell) and ex (Mitchell). A property dispute concerning their house, which was found to be a community asset, resulted in a mediation involving the wife, the buyer of the house, the buyer’s lender lender, the broker, and the agent. This resulted in a stipulation for settlement reached through mediation that the trial court enforced, at the request of the defendants who mediated, under CCP section 664.6. However, the wife wanted to set aside the settlement agreement, and appealed.
The broker and agent signed the stipulation ten days after the mediation. The buyer and lender, however, had not personally signed the stipulation, though they too wished to enforce it.
Mitchell's counsel conceded that the agreement was enforceable by the broker and agent, as they signed before it was revoked. That was dispositive in favor of the broker and the agent's effort to enforce the stipulation.
The buyer and the buyer's lender, however, had not personally signed the stipulation. Section 664.6 requires that the parties to pending litigation either stipulate in a writing signed by the parties outside the presence of the court or orally before the court, for settlement of the case.
Buyer and lender argued that their attorney at the mediation was authorized to sign for them. Not good enough: "the term 'parties' as used in section 664.6 . . . means the litigants themselves, and does not include their attorneys of record." Levy v. Superior Court, 10 Cal.4th 578, 586 (1995). There is policy behind this: "The litigants' direct participation tends to ensure that the settlement is the result of their mature reflection and deliberate assent." Id. at 585. (Note the difference between enforcement of a contract and enforcement under section 664.6. Having the signature of the person against whom a contract is to be enforced often suffices; not so in the case of section 664.6.)
COMMENT: If the parties really don't want the stipulation for settlement to take effect until all parties have signed it, they could say so explicitly in the stipulation. If such language had been included in the stipulation, then all the parties would have had a tough time enforcing the stipulation, as two parties did not sign it.
Comments