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Trial court erred in finding defendant's proposal for settlement ambiguous and thus unenforceable. [Added 7/14/10] Defendant (one of 2 defendants in a defamation case) served a joint proposal for settlement pursuant to Fla.Stat. sec. 768.79 and Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.442, offering to settle with Plaintiff for $20,000. The proposal required Plaintiff to dismiss the case with prejudice and also required that "'[t]he writing evidencing acceptance of this proposal must include the explicit acknowledgement by the plaintiff that by making this proposal, defendants are not admitting that they have said or done anything improper referable to the plaintiff, and that the defendants are attempting to purchase their peace from this plaintiff.'" (Emphasis supplied.) Plaintiff rejected the offer, but later settled with the other defendant (an employee of Defendant). The jury found in favor of Defendant. Defendant then moved for an award of attorney's fees as a result of the rejected proposal for settlement. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the certain language in the proposal (in italics, above) was ambiguous. Defendant appealed. The Fourth DCA reversed, concluding that there was nothing ambiguous about the proposal. "Rather than be ambiguous, the defendants specifically directed the language to be contained within the written acceptance. Reading the paragraph as a whole, the last phrase merely explains why the defendants were willing to pay $20,000." The appeals court also rejected Plaintiff's contention that the proposal was void due to its joint nature. "[T]he plaintiff maintained the ability to independently evaluate and act upon the proposal. The plaintiff’s decision was not dependent upon the evaluation and acceptance of another offeree. For this reason, the joint proposal did not run afoul of Gorka [Attorneys' Title Ins. Fund, Inc. v. Gorka, ___ So.3d ___, 35 Fla.L.Weekly S196 (Fla., No. SC08-1899, 4/1/2010), 2010 WL 1235268]." Donovan Marine, Inc. v. Delmonico, __ So.3d ___ (Fla. 4th DCA, No. 4D09-897, 7/7/2010). |
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