Court Opinion

ID: 9592602
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:15:41.428803+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:06:53.294038
License: Public Domain

Pope, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent. In my opinion the facts here establish only that the parties’ attorneys were engaged in on-going settlement negotiations, with a series of offers and counteroffers going back and forth between them. Part of these negotiations concerned the manner and to what extent defendant would be released from liability to plaintiff. An agreement as to the terms of that release was not reached within the time specified by plaintiff’s attorney for acceptance of the offer. Inasmuch as there was no meeting of the minds concerning the essential terms of the settlement agreement within the specified time, no enforceable agreement existed between the parties. See Grossman v. Smith, Barney Real Estate Fund, 211 Ga. App. 243 (438 SE2d 700) (1993) (physical precedent only). I would thus reverse the judgment of the trial court.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Beasley joins in this dissent.