Opinion ID: 2521072
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Pablo Zamora (Zamora), doing business as Creative Engineering and Fabrication, filed suit against Clayborn Contracting Group, Inc. (Clayborn), alleging breach of contract and other related claims. The complaint alleged that Clayborn failed to pay for road signs produced and supplied by Zamora and sought approximately $143,000 in damages plus attorney fees. Clayborn answered and filed a cross-complaint. Although the cross-complaint did not specify the amount of damages sought, Clayborn sent Zamora an invoice for approximately $157,000 before filing the cross-claim. Less than two months before trial, Zamora's counsel mailed Clayborn a section 998 offer. Although Zamora apparently intended to offer to settle for a judgment in his favor in the amount of $149,999, the actual offer sent to Clayborn stated: Plaintiff Pablo Zamora aka Pablo Iniguez dba Creative Engineering and Fabrication hereby offers to have judgment taken against himself and for defendant Clayborn Contracting Group, Inc .... pursuant to Section 998 of the Code of Civil Procedure for the sum of $149,999 .... Clayborn filed a notice of acceptance of the offer approximately three days after reviewing it. One week later and two days after learning about the mistake in the offer, Zamora's counsel advised the court of his intention to file a motion to set aside the judgment based on mistake, inadvertence and excusable neglect. After obtaining an order shortening the time for hearing the motion, Zamora filed a motion to set aside the section 998 offer or to vacate entry of judgment pursuant to the discretionary relief provision of section 473, subdivision (b). In support of the motion, Zamora submitted declarations from himself, his counsel, the legal assistant who typed the section 998 offer and other litigants in related cases. Zamora averred that he only authorized his attorney to settle for a judgment in his favor in the amount of $149,999 and never authorized his attorney to agree to any judgment in favor of Clayborn. Zamora's counsel declared that he, by phone, instructed his legal assistant to prepare a document offering to settle for a judgment against Clayborn in the amount of $149,999 pursuant to section 998. Zamora's counsel, per office policy, authorized his legal assistant to send the document with his stamped signature even though he had not reviewed it, because he was out of town and time was of the essence. He further stated that, before making this offer, Zamora had never offered to settle the matter for less than $150,000 from Clayborn. His legal assistant largely corroborated his story and claimed that she mistakenly typed the word `against' as opposed to the phrase `in favor of Pablo Zamora. Zamora's counsel also stated that, after accepting the section 998 offer, Clayborn unilaterally cancelled depositions and took pending motions to coordinate this action with other actions and to amend the cross-complaint off calendar without informing Zamora or other interested parties. A declaration from another litigant involved in the coordination motion corroborated these statements. In opposition, Clayborn submitted declarations claiming that it acted in good faith and believed the offer was correct as written. Clayborn claimed that the proposed amount of the settlement$149,999was consistent with the amount stated in its latest invoice to Zamoraapproximately $157,000. Clayborn's counsel further stated that he had told Zamora's counsel that Clayborn would not give Zamora any money and had suffered significant damages due to Zamora's conduct. Finally, Clayborn identified two tax levies against Zamora for approximately $31,000, as grounds for its failure to question the validity of the offer. After a hearing, the trial court found that Zamora's counsel made a ministerial or clerical error and granted the motion to set aside the judgment pursuant to the discretionary relief provision of section 473, subdivision (b). The Court of Appeal affirmed. After ordering the trial court to enter judgment, nunc pro tunc as of February 17, 2000, pursuant to the section 998 offer filed that date, [2] the court concluded that: (1) Section 473, subdivision (b) permitted relief from a judgment entered in accordance with a section 998 settlement for mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; and (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion by granting Zamora relief from the section 998 settlement. We granted review.