November 4, 2022 – Associate Attorney Davis Lackey won a Motion to Enforce a Settlement in the State Court of Fulton County County.
In this case, two Plaintiffs claimed personal injuries arising out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on January 3, 2021. This lawsuit was filed on December 28, 2021 and Defendant timely filed his answer to the Complaint on or about March 31, 2021. On August 15, 2022, Plaintiffs sent Defendant Offers of Settlement pursuant to O.C.G.A. 9-11-68 in the amount of $25,000 per Plaintiff. The offers included language that: “As a condition to this offer, the Plaintiff is willing to execute a general release of all claims that the Plaintiff raised or which could have been raised is the instant civil action against Defendant Rhodes and Defendant Rhodes’ insurers.”
Mr. Lackey accepted Plaintiff’s Offer of Settlement in a timely manner on September 13, 2022, including all material terms, via electronic correspondence. Following delivery of the check, Plaintiff’s counsel contacted Mr. Lackey to indicate they needed to change the terms to allow a limited liability release instead of a general release to allow them to pursue UM coverage. Mr. Lackey moved the Court to Enforce the Settlement stating that Plaintiff issued an offer, and Defendant unequivocally accepted the offer, including all material terms therein and that the parties reached a meeting of the minds. In their responses the Plaintiffs indicated that Mr. Lackey failed to properly accept the offer and that he provided a proposed release that included objectionable provisions including indemnification language they did not want included.
Judge John Mather of the State Court of Fulton County found that “Here, an agreement to settle was concluded upon the Defendant’s favorable response of September 13, 2022 to Plaintiff’s Offer of Settlement.” He further found that “Nothing in Defendant’s email conditioned as agreement upon Plaintiff’s acceptance of a particular form of settlement documents of indemnity agreement.” Judge Mather ordered the settlement to be enforced and the matter to be dismissed with prejudice.
The Court’s Order can be viewed here.
The case is Michael Bar-Johnson and Gadi Bar-Johnson v. Gregory A. Rhodes
State Court of Fulton County, CAFN: 21-EV-007787
Read more about Attorney Davis Lackey here.
Read more about GMKE at http://www.gmke.law. Follow GMKE on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
