The Neighbor Feud Had Gone On Since 2002.
Wandering Elk, Dakota Indian, smokes peacepipe. c1903. Frank Bennett Fiske, photographer. Library of Congress.
The Court of Appeals' reliance on the wisdom of a Croatian proverb offered a strong clue in the first sentence that the Court would enforce peace among feuding neighbors: "Better a bad harvest than a bad neighbor." Beuchel v. Sup. Ct., B268193 (2/2 5/1/17) (Hoffstadt, Ashmann-Gerst, Goodman) (unpublished). Another clue was the Court's eagerness to treat the matter, filed as an appeal, as a writ proceeding. In this unpleasant neighbor dispute, there were allegations of spraying plaintiff with a garden hose, trespass to install barbed wire, and installation of surveillance cameras. The 15 year history of ill-will included a citizen's arrest of plaintiff after defendants allegedly found her in their backyard damaging their fence.
But let's cut to the chase. Plaintiff tried to wriggle out of a short-form settlement agreement following a mediation, chiefly on the grounds that she only understood the release of claims to apply to defendants' cross-claims, not her own, as to which the trial court had already granted summary judgment against her. After neighbors brought a motion to enforce the settlement agreement, which the trial court granted, plaintiff appealed.
Unsurprisingly, the Court of Appeal denied the plaintiff/petitioner's request, affirming the trial court's grant of the enforcement motion.
COMMENT: Key reasons that the Court was willing to enforce the shorthand form were that it described the settlement "as full and final settlement of the claims raised" in the court case; plaintiff's promise to waive her right to appeal; and a "1542 waiver" that included each parties' waiver of all claims known and unknown.
The Court of Appeal added, "The trial court had ample grounds to find that plaintiff's refusal to sign the short-form agreement was an effort to create controversy where none existed and a thinly veiled attempt to 'cause unnecessary delay' by frivolous means." As a consequence, the Court upheld a trial court order awarding payment of attorney's fees defendants incurred in moving to enforce the short-form agreement.
There is a strong tendency to attribute fault to someone who appears to be acting unreasonably.
Comments