Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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Mediation Case Law Review

Part II: July–December 2006
By James R. Coben and Peter N. Thompson

I. ENFORCEMENT OF MEDIATED SETTLEMENTS
A. State Supreme Courts
Buckley v. Shealy, 635 S.E.2d 76 (S.C. Sept. 18, 2006) (affirming decision
not to enforce mediated divorce settlement last seen at the mediator’s office
in 1997, where it is unclear what happened to the signed agreement, and the
family court never entered a signed copy of the agreement in the record),
rehearing denied (Sept. 18, 2006).
Flood v. Katz, 147 P.3d 86 (Idaho 2006) (refusing to set aside satisfaction of
judgment and dismissal in securities fraud action granted following
defendant’s payment of mediated settlement, where defendant’s
misrepresentation during mediation regarding the extent of his assets
available for settlement did not constitute the extreme degree of fraud
necessary to justify extraordinary relief).
Quote from the Court: “Factually, the case before the Court is
more similar to Compton where a party to a divorce agreement
was given a listing of property and its valuation [citation omitted].
The wife was on notice and free to challenge the husband's
valuation, but she failed to do so. Id. The court stated that her
‘inadvertence or misjudgment in failing to do so when the
opportunity was ripe is an excellent example of the type of
conduct which the independent action to relieve a party from
judgment will not lie to correct.’"
Ransom v. Topaz Marketing, L.P., 152 P.3d 2 (Idaho 2006) (concluding
that the trial court was without authority, in the second of two cases
combined against the same defendant, to order erection of a fence as
required by the mediated settlement ending the first of the two combined
cases, where, in the second case, the fence was not an issue raised by the
plaintiff and the judge had acknowledged a lack of authority to resolve
issues regarding the fence).
Smith v. Tillman, __So.2d __, No. 1051108, 2006 WL 3334431 (Ala. Nov.
17, 2006) (finding sovereign immunity barred a claim that a sheriff violated
a mediated settlement agreement in connection with a Title VII case, where
the agreement was mediated between private parties and was not reached in
mediation with the EEOC).
B. Federal Circuit Courts
Davis v. Education Dept. Services, Inc., 205 F.App’x 711 (11th Cir. 2006)
(denying plaintiff’s motion to reopen a suit that was dismissed pursuant to
plaintiff’s notice of dismissal, because the motion involved loans by
plaintiff’s son that were not the subject of the original settlement agreement,