RAYMOND MCFADDEN, APPELLANT,
v.
ALLIANCE MEDICAL PRACTICES, INC., WILLIAM EMERSON AND JOSEPH SASSANO, APPELLEES
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The appellate court reversed the trial court's summary enforcement of a settlement agreement and dismissal with prejudice, holding that a material dispute existed regarding the appellant's attorney's authority to settle, requiring an evidentiary hearing and conflict-free counsel before enforcement.
When a material dispute exists regarding whether an attorney had authority to bind a client to a settlement agreement, the trial court must conduct an evidentiary hearing and afford the client opportunity to seek conflict-free counsel before enforcing the settlement.
[1] When a material dispute exists regarding an attorney's authority to bind a client to a settlement agreement, the trial court must conduct an evidentiary hearing and provi…
[2] Dismissal with prejudice for failure to execute settlement documents requires express findings that non-compliance was willful and that less drastic remedies were unavail…
Previewing 2 of 2 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Because there was a material dispute regarding whether appellant's attorney had authority to enter into the settlement agreement, the trial court should have conducted an evidentiary hearing after affording appellant the opportunity to seek conflict-free counsel to represent him.”
Court's explanation of the primary error in the trial court's approach to enforcing the settlement.
Appellant McFadden's attorney allegedly entered into a settlement agreement with appellees Alliance Medical Practices, Inc., William Emerson, and Jose…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant contends that the trial court (1) erred in summarily granting appellees’ motion to enforce a settlement agreement and ordering appellant to sign a general release and (2) abused its discretion in dismissing appellant’s complaint with prejudice upon finding that appellant failed to sign a general release within ten days of the order granting the motion to enforce settlement. We agree. Because there was a material dispute regarding whether appellant’s attorney had authority to enter into the settlement agreement, the trial court should have conducted an evidentiary hearing after affording appellant the opportunity to seek conflict-free counsel to represent him. See Murchison v. Grand Cypress Hotel Corp., 13 F. 3d 1483, 1486 (11th Cir.1994). Accord Healey v. Healey, 658 So. 2d 1096, 1098 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). Furthermore, the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing appellant’s complaint with prejudice based on appellant’s failure to execute settlement documents without expressly finding that appellant’s non-compliance was willful or that less drastic remedies were not available as a means of enforcing the settlement agreement. See Ashley v. Gersten, 700 So. 2d 462, 463 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Kelley v. Schmidt, 613 So. 2d 918, 919-20 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993). Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s rulings and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED, with directions.
WOLF, WEBSTER, and BROWNING, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Kelley v. Schmidt, 613 So. 2d 918 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)
- Murchison v. Grand Cypress Hotel Corp., 13 F.3d 1483 (11th Cir. 1994)
- Healey v. Healey, 658 So. 2d 1096 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
- Ashley v. Marnie Gersten, 700 So. 2d 462 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)