Court Opinion

ID: 9715359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:01:13.501357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:33.860172
License: Public Domain

*811M. J. Kelly, P.J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. I believe that there is no enforceable settlement binding the parties in this case. While plaintiffs did not specifically argue at trial that a settlement was never reached, such a posture can be deduced from their argument that, inasmuch as there was no meeting of the minds, there was no contract. In any event, we will consider issues not preserved for appeal where the error is fundamental or apparent. Kline v Kline, 92 Mich App 62, 74; 284 NW2d 488 (1979).
I agree with the majority that an agreement to settle pending litigation is a contract which is governed by the principles generally applicable to the interpretation and construction of contracts and that settlements will not be set aside in the absence of fraud or mutual mistake. However, before determining whether a settlement can be set aside, it must be determined whether a settlement exists. "GCR 1963, 507.9, * * * indicates that agreements are not binding unless in writing subscribed by the party against whom the agreement is asserted or that party’s attorney or unless the agreement has been made in open court.” (Emphasis omitted.) Scholnick’s Importers-Clothiers, Inc v Lent, 130 Mich App 104, 109; 343 NW2d 249 (1983). Generally, cases addressing the issue of whether a settlement can be set aside involve settlement agreements evidenced by a stipulation incorporating the agreement, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc v Wayne County Board of Road Commr’s, 59 Mich App 117; 229 NW2d 338 (1975), or attorney agreements in open court, Jackson v Wayne Circuit Judge, 341 Mich 55; 67 NW2d 471 (1954); Collins v Searight-Downs Mfg Co, 245 *812Mich 41; 222 NW 84 (1928); Pedder v Kalish, 26 Mich App 655; 182 NW2d 739 (1970).1
In the instant case, the negotiations which gave rise to the purported settlement involved oral communications between the respective parties’ attorneys. There was no stipulation, no writing, and no acknowledgment made in open court evidencing the contents of the alleged agreement. In fact, in defendants’ "Motion for Enforcement of Compromise and Settlement Agreement”, defendant sought in the alternative "an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a valid and enforceable settlement of this matter has occurred”. I conclude that there was no settlement agreement entered into between the plaintiffs and the defendants in this case.
The majority simply writes GCR 1963, 507.9 out of existence.2 Even if the attorneys booted it and the trial court compounded the error, the ramifications are too foreboding to allow such a ruling.
I would reverse.

 The recesses of my faltering memory of settlement negotiations with clients and opposing counsel cause involuntary repulsion at declaring the oral negotiations a final enforceable settlement. Egad! Will this inspire a new frontier for litigating liability and malpractice claims over who said what to whom and when? I shudder.

 The majority says that my reliance on GCR 1963, 507.9 is misplaced because "[pjlaintiffs have not denied either in circuit court or on appeal that their attorney made the agreement at issue”. Attorneys can’t make binding agreements for litigants unless there is a meeting of the minds between the two. Appellants say that there was no meeting of the minds and that they rejected the settlement when they discovered its value.. They don’t deny that the attorney went through the motions, but they surely deny that they agreed, therefore, quando aliquid prohibetur, prohibetur et omne per quod devenitur ad illud.