Opinion ID: 2533377
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the trial court's enforcement of the settlement agreement was clearly erroneous and constitutes abuse of discretion.

Text: ¶ 15. It is well-settled that this Court will not disturb the findings of the chancellor unless it is shown the chancellor was clearly erroneous and the chancellor abused his discretion. Also a circuit judge sitting without a jury is accorded the same deference with regard to ... factual findings as is a chancellor. Ill. Cent. R.R. v. McDaniel, 951 So.2d 523, 526 (Miss.2006) (internal quotations and citations omitted). In determining whether a trial judge abused his discretion, the reviewing court must have a `definite and firm conviction' that the court below committed a clear error of judgment and the conclusion it reached upon a weighing of the relevant factors. Howard v. TotalFina E & P USA, Inc., 899 So.2d 882, 888 (Miss.2005) (quoting Caracci v. Int'l Paper Co., 699 So.2d 546, 556 (Miss.1997)). ¶ 16. A settlement agreement is a contract. McManus v. Howard, 569 So.2d 1213, 1215 (Miss.1990). This Court previously has stated that a meeting of the minds must exist between the parties in order to have a settlement. Thomas v. Bailey, 375 So.2d 1049, 1052 (Miss.1979). Further, in order for a settlement agreement to be enforced, the party claiming the benefit of enforcement must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that there was a meeting of the minds. Hastings v. Guillot, 825 So.2d 20, 23 (Miss.2002). ¶ 17. As noted above, the trial court has thoroughly considered the arguments and evidence that each party presented in support of their conflicting accounts of what Peirce and Peters agreed to at the Pittsburgh meeting. This evidence included the fact that ICRR already had paid approximately 180 of the approximately 216 plaintiffs, and many of the plaintiffs who already had been paid had signed prior releases (when they had settled claims for other occupational injuries). Furthermore, the approximately thirty-six remaining, unpaid plaintiffs had provided the same documentation to ICRR as those plaintiffs who had been paid. Thus, it was not clearly erroneous nor an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to find that Peirce and Peters did have a meeting of the minds regarding settlement of the claims of all plaintiffs, including those who had signed prior releases.