Court Opinion

ID: 9574077
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:08.607224+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:04.598731
License: Public Domain

Fletcher, Presiding Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because the majority relies on the failure of the judgment to reflect the settlement agreement to conclude that the settlement agreement is not enforceable at all.
The enforceability of the settlement agreement depends on whether the parties have reached agreement on all essential terms.1 The record contains the handwritten settlement agreement reached by the parties during mediation. Both parties and their attorneys signed the agreement. Additionally, Ms. DeGarmo’s attorney, pursuant to his obligation under Uniform Superior Court Rule 4.10, notified the trial court in writing that the parties had reached a settlement and that he would prepare the settlement agreement in accordance with the terms of the signed memorandum of agreement.
It is clear from a reading of the agreement that all essential terms are incorporated. Contrary to the majority’s view, the only item left for future resolution is the exact language of the decree. This agreement was reached after a long process aided by a skilled mediator, attended by both parties and counsel. If this agreement is not enforceable, then almost no agreement will be enforceable.
I agree with the majority that the judgment does not accurately reflect the settlement agreement in a few respects. The remedy for this, however, is not to scuttle the agreement, but to remand it to the trial court for entry of a judgment that accurately reflects the essential terms as agreed to by the parties in the handwritten agreement.
I am authorized to state that Justice Sears and Justice Hines join in this dissent.
*483Decided May 4, 1998
Reconsideration denied May 22,1998.
Henderson & Lipscomb, David S. Lipscomb, for appellant.
McKinney & Salo, Jan McKinney, Elizabeth M. Jaffe, John A. Roberts, for appellee.

 See Reichard v. Reichard, 262 Ga. 561, 564 (423 SE2d 241) (1992).