Opinion ID: 482542
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: reduction of award by amount of prior settlement

Text: 106 Appellants next argue the district court erred in refusing to reduce the amount of its judgment by $100,000, the amount paid by Syntex pursuant to the settlement and consent decree in September 1980. Appellants argue that unless the judgment is offset by the amount of the Syntex settlement, the government will improperly receive a double recovery of that amount from Syntex and appellants. Thus, appellants argue the district court should have reduced the award by $100,000. 107 The government argues the district court correctly refused to reduce the award by the amount of the Syntex settlement. We agree. According to the government's exhibits, the government did not seek a double recovery. The government had incurred response costs of $494,639.54 through March 10, 1983, but sought recovery from appellants of only $394,639.54, or the total amount of its response costs to date reduced by the $100,000 Syntex settlement, plus future response costs. Thus, the government sought to recover from appellants an amount that had already been reduced to reflect the amount of the Syntex settlement.