Opinion ID: 1406018
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: joint offer

Text: This court has not previously addressed the factual circumstances of an offer of settlement made by multiple defendants where one defendant has a counterclaim against the plaintiff. We have previously held that joint offers of settlement by one defendant to several plaintiffs are ineffective under certain circumstances to invoke the penal cost sanctions of Rule 68. In Brinkerhoff v. Swearingen Aviation Corp., 663 P.2d 937, 943 (Alaska 1983), we held that defendant's failure to apportion the offer among plaintiffs deprived each plaintiff of the opportunity to accept or reject its portion of the offer. Because apportionment problems among offerees could frustrate the purpose of Rule 68 to encourage settlement of civil litigation, we held that defendant's joint offer of settlement was ineffective to trigger Rule 68's cost sanctions. We have also held that a joint offer conditioned on its acceptance by all plaintiffs is ineffective to trigger Rule 68's cost sanctions. Hayes v. Xerox Corp., 718 P.2d 929, 937-38 (Alaska 1986) (affirming Rule 68 fee award where offer was not conditioned on joint acceptance). Taylor-Ritchie's argument by analogy that these cases render the offer in this case ineffective to bring into play Rule 68's sanctions is not persuasive. The settlement offer clearly indicated all claims between the parties would be resolved if the offer were accepted. In the words of the superior court, the offer was inclusive of all of the relationships among the parties and their conflicting claims. We further agree with the superior court's observation that [n]o apportionment difficulty existed, and plaintiff, in failing to accept the offer, assumed the risk of the penalty. We would hold that the settlement offer was sufficient to trigger the penal cost sanctions provided for in Rule 68.