Legal News and Appellate Tips

Can parties settling a lawsuit agree to a stipulated judgment that is non-appealable? (Yes – that is rather an easy one.) What if there is a dispute whether the settlement has been performed: Is the order deciding that question appealable?

This latter question is taken up in Summit Bridge National Investments IV, LLC v. Meguerditch Panossian (D2d2 Aug. 4, 2021) no. B310067 (nonpub. opn.), and is answered in the negative. After discussing the case, I explain why I think the result is both unsupported and incorrect.

If there is any lesson to be offered here, perhaps it is to avoid stipulating to non-appealability. A stipulated judgment is not appealable anyway. There is such a thing as overdoing it.

Get a weekly digest of these articles delivered to your inbox by subscribing here: https://lnkd.in/g23bc4Y.

In a surprising split-decision, the Second District held trust beneficiaries who voluntarily decline to participate in mediation forfeit all rights to object to the mediated settlement. Breslin v. Breslin (D2d6 Apr. 5, 2021) no. B301382.
The opinion was first issued on January 26, 2021. Following rehearing, however, Justice Tangeman withdrew from the unanimous opinion and lodged a dissent.

For my part, I agree with Justice Tangeman. And I have two additional concerns about the majority's opinion, concerns not addressed either by the majority or by the dissent.
One is that civil authorities rather emphatically reject the Breslin majority's approach to involuntary mediation here. And another is that there is reason to suspect the majority opinion could be deployed in civil actions.

Watch this space.