 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental Abatement2/29/2000
This case raises the issue of whether a chancellor designated to serve as a "settlement judge" under local rules of court can enter a consent decree with the knowledge that one of the parties has withdrawn its consent to an oral agreement reached at a "judicial settlement conference" but not reduced to a writing, transcribed or otherwise entered on the record at the time of the oral agreement. We answer that question in the negative and reverse.
The parties were engaged in litigation arising out of a construction project. Astrum R. E. Corporation ("Astrum") owned a factory in Rutherford County. Astrum entered into an agreement with a general contractor, Mahan Roofing and Sheet Metal Company, Inc. ("Mahan"), to replace the roof on its factory. Mahan engaged a sub-contractor, Environmental Abatement Inc. ("EAI"), to remove hazardous material from the roof. While removing the hazardous materials, EAI's workers damaged the side walls of Astrum's building. Astrum responded by withholding payment to Mahan. EAI filed a mechanics' and materialmen's lien on Astrum's property.
EAI then filed a lawsuit to enforce these liens pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. ยง 66-11-115. Astrum filed a counterclaim against EAI for damages to the factory, and a third party complaint against the general contractor, Mahan. Mahan filed a cross complaint against EAI.
A court-ordered and judicial officer-mediated settlement conference was held pursuant to the local rules of court. After approximately five hours of negotiation during which the settlement judge acted as mediator, a verbal agreement was reached. No court reporter was present at the mediation. At the close of the mediation, the settlement judge restated and confirmed the settlement's terms. Then he directed EAI's counsel to prepare the consent decree.
Early the following morning Mahan notified all parties that it was withdrawing its consent to the agreement. Nonetheless, EAI prepared and circulated to all counsel a proposed order reflecting the agreement. Mahan notified the other parties that it would not sign the order and had withdrawn its consent. Astrum submitted the proposed consent decree to the settlement judge with Mahan's letter indicating its withdrawal of consent. Days later, fully aware of Mahan's withdrawn consent, the settlement judge entered the Order of Compromise and Settlement prepared by counsel for EAI. This order was not signed by any representative of Mahan.
Thereafter, Mahan filed a motion to set aside the decree, asserting that it no longer assented to the terms of the proposed settlement at the time of entry of the order and also asserting that the order did not accurately reflect the oral agreement reached at the conclusion of the settlement conference. The trial judge denied this motion. Mahan renewed this motion before the settlement judge who presided over the mediation, and it was again denied. Mahan then brought this appeal, claiming that the trial court erred in entering a consent decree when the court was aware that one of the parties had withdrawn its consent.
Our review of this case must begin with the acknowledgment that the oral settlement agreement announced at the conclusion of the mediation is not part of the record on appeal. No court reporter was present and no contemporaneously prepared written document formalized the agreement. No entry in the court's record reflecting the conference or the agreement has been presented to us. No statement of the evidence was provided to memorialize the unrecorded settlement conference. See Tenn. R. App. P. 24(c). This lack of formality, of course, is due to the fact that the proceeding was a settlement conference, a fact that ha
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tennessee Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|