An Offeree's Acceptance Of A Section 998 Offer Must Be "Absolute And Unqualified" To Form A Binding Settlement.
"Absolute and unqualified" did not describe the offeree Says Siri's acceptance of Sutter Home Winery's offer in Says Siri v. Sutter Home Winery [Trinchero Family Estates], A161923 (1/4 8/25/22) (Pollak, Streeter, Goldman). Instead, Siri accepted Trinchero's settlement offer on the condition that the trial court resolve issues relating to how much interest Siri could recover on the judgment. Invoking Section 998 procedure, the trial court ordered judgment be entered pursuant to Section 998, and ultimately denied the claim for prejudgment interest. Because Siri's acceptance was not absolute and unqualified, the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of dismissal, remanding "for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
COMMENT: Justice Pollak explains, "Treating Siri’s conditional acceptance as a counteroffer that Trinchero accepted by agreeing to have the court rule on Siri’s motion for an award of interest, the court might find that an enforceable settlement agreement had been reached. . . . Such an issue is not now before us; we hold only that Siri’s conditional acceptance did not create an agreement enforceable under section 998."
Justice Pollak is a very clever judge and this is a clever opinion. But we are a bit puzzled. Did Justice Pollak simply give the trial judge a roadmap to reach the same result as before? Or are there going to be further stumbling blocks that prevent reaching the same result?
Comments