Court Opinion

ID: 9719348
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:49:22.925084+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:06.348660
License: Public Domain

AMUNDSON, Justice
(concurring specially).
[¶ 17.] There has been a long-standing policy among the courts across this nation *406to encourage and accept settlements in pending cases. Part of the rationale for such a policy is:
In many cases, an attorney will be faced with strategic choices, any one of which may lead to a favorable result for his client. An attorney must make an educated guess as to which course of action is most likely to succeed. The practice of law is not an exact science[.]
DePugh v. Sladoje, 111 Ohio App.3d 675, 676 N.E.2d 1231, 1239 (1996).
[¶ 18.] In this case, an agreement has been made by the parties to settle the case while it was on appeal to this Court from a judgment favoring Citibank at the trial court level. It certainly is “not an exact science” in attempting to advise a client or predicting for a client what the result would be of any case on appeal, especially one of first impression.
[¶ 19.] As Kenny Rogers sang: “You’ve Got to Know When to Hold Them and Know When to Fold Them.” After reviewing all the briefs filed in this case and the record, it is my personal opinion that this settlement is in the best interest of the State of South Dakota as argued by its attorneys. The time to fold in this case was when you could avert a reduction of over four million dollars in the general revenues of your client.