Opinion ID: 1865218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Failure to Disclose Oberammergau Tickets Unsecured.

Text: After Terramar had failed to secure Oberammergau tickets and Specialized Tours, or Dittmann, secured them through another agency, respondent accepted $13,751 from Terramar in settlement. Respondent claims this settlement did not relieve Hagen from claims respondent had against him because of the Oberammergau problem. The trial court, however, held respondent's settlement with Terramar released Hagen from liability for fraud based on the rule that the release of one joint tort-feasor releases others. See, e.g., Holmgren v. Heisick, 287 Minn. 386, 391, 178 N.W.2d 854, 858 (1970). The trial court noted the settlement did not reserve any rights to proceed against Hagen or have any other contemporaneous evidence indicating an intention to hold Hagen responsible for unrecovered losses. Respondent contends the trial court erred as a matter of law in releasing Hagen. It considers Luxenburg v. Can-Tex Industries, 257 N.W.2d 804 (Minn.1977), to be dispositive. However, even under Luxenburg the question is whether the injured party has accepted satisfaction in full for the injury sustained by him. See also Gronquist v. Olson, 242 Minn. 119, 64 N.W.2d 159 (1954). Thus, it is clear that one of the key factors is a factual determination of the intention of the release. Id. at 128, 64 N.W.2d at 165. Respondent's present contention that Hagen and Terramar were not joint tort-feasors is contradicted by its stance at trial that additional expenses were incurred because appellant failed to timely make some down payments and because Terramar failed to transmit the required payments to the Oberammergau committee  in other words, that the two were in pari delicto or joint tort-feasors. Moreover, the evidence supports the trial court's conclusion. The settlement letter specifically states Terramar paid money to Dittmann as a settlement to claims    for operations of the 1980 Oberammergau program. Reasonable people might have reached a conclusion supporting respondent, but there existed sufficient evidence to support the trial court's finding. Therefore, we cannot hold it was clearly erroneous.