Opinion ID: 1766554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Amount of the Settlement

Text: ¶ 17. The jury should not have been told the amount of the settlement. This Court has stated that [t]o inform a jury of the amount of a settlement prior to its returning a verdict for a joint tortfeasor or co-defendant will certainly and unnecessarily influence a jury in its decision. Whittley v. City of Meridian, 530 So.2d 1341, 1346 (Miss.1988). See also Robles, 697 So.2d at 385 (jury must not be informed of the amount of the settlement). The probative value, if any exists at all, of the settlement amount is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. As we recognized in Robles, the tendency to determine that the plaintiff has already been adequately compensated is too tempting. Robles, 697 So.2d at 385. The settlement amount should have been excluded pursuant to M.R.E. 403.