Opinion ID: 1713851
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: was there a meeting of the minds?

Text: ¶ 12. In his brief, the Hastings cites Viverette v. State Highway Comm'n, 656 So.2d 102 (Miss.1995). Viverette provides guidance on where to begin this inquiry. As we wrote in Viverette, in order for there to be a settlement there must be a meeting of the minds. Thomas v. Bailey, 375 So.2d 1049, 1052 (Miss.1979) (citing Hutton v. Hutton, 239 Miss. 217, 230, 119 So.2d 369, 374 (1960)). A settlement is a contract. McManus v. Howard, 569 So.2d 1213, 1215 (Miss.1990). Also, Mississippi law requires the party claiming benefit from the settlement must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that there was a meeting of the minds. Warwick v. Matheney, 603 So.2d 330, 336 (Miss.1992). ¶ 13. In Viverette, we found that there was insufficient evidence of a meeting of the minds and reversed an order of the trial court enforcing the settlement. We so found because there was distinct confusion as to what the final settlement was. Additionally, one of the witnesses to the proposed settlement was a convicted perjurer, and his testimony was rightly excluded by the trial court. If there were any confusion as to the proposed settlement in the case sub judice, it is not evidenced in the record, nor was there exclusion of testimony of either parties because of perjury convictions. We find the Viverette case a satisfactory statement of the law, but not factually analogous to the case sub judice. ¶ 14. Guillot contends that the only evidence Hastings presented refuting the suggestion that there was a meeting of the minds was his affidavit of February 2, 2000. This appears in the record to be the case, and that affidavit does very little other than deny there was any meeting of the minds. All that the law requires is that Guillot, the beneficiary of the settlement, show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that there was a meeting of the minds. We find this has been achieved. ¶ 15. The record includes testimony from Guillot's attorneys regarding the day of the deposition and settlement negotiations. Hastings's former attorney refused to testify as to what transpired during the depositions and settlement negotiations, due to the fact that, according to him, Hastings had threatened to sue him if he did. ¶ 16. Perhaps the most compelling evidence that a meeting of the minds had been achieved was the release of the court reporter before the scheduled depositions were concluded. Afterwards, a release and settlement statement were prepared and sent to counsel for Hastings. Had there been no meeting of the minds, there would have been no such documentation prepared. Without a meeting of the minds, the attorneys would have proceeded with the case, not prepared settlement documents. Even though there was no discussion about the settlement being contingent on it being reduced to writing, it appears this was simply the next logical step after a settlement agreement had been reached. ¶ 17. Accordingly, we find there was a meeting of the minds and Guillot proved by a preponderance of the evidence that such occurred.