Brim v. Lewis

423 P.3d 807, 292 Or. App. 301
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 6, 2018
DocketA163642
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 423 P.3d 807 (Brim v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brim v. Lewis, 423 P.3d 807, 292 Or. App. 301 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

AOYAGI, J.

*302In this civil action, the parties reached a settlement agreement, the terms of which they read into the record in open court, and the trial court later entered a judgment based on that settlement. Defendant objected to the form of the judgment as containing terms materially different from the settlement agreement. Defendant appeals the judgment. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand.

The relevant facts are undisputed and largely procedural. Plaintiff Brim is an individual residing in Jackson County. The other plaintiffs are corporations with which Brim is affiliated. Defendant is an individual residing in Alaska. In connection with a personal dispute, defendant began making negative statements about plaintiffs on the internet and elsewhere. Plaintiffs brought this action against defendant for defamation, intentional interference with economic relations, and false light. Plaintiffs sought both damages and injunctive relief.

In June 2015, defendant stipulated to entry of a preliminary injunction that enjoined her from making any new communications to third parties about plaintiffs and from publishing any statements about plaintiffs on the internet, via email, or otherwise. A few months later, plaintiffs filed a contempt action against defendant, seeking to have her held in contempt for violating the preliminary injunction.1 In December 2015, the parties reached an oral settlement agreement to resolve both this action and the contempt matter. They read the terms of their oral *809agreement into the record at a hearing in the contempt action. At the time, they intended to reduce their agreement to writing and offer a proposed judgment to the court in the near future.

The parties were unable, however, to agree on the form of a written settlement agreement. Meanwhile, defendant engaged in conduct that plaintiffs viewed as violating the oral settlement agreement. Plaintiffs took two actions to address defendant's alleged violation of the oral settlement *303agreement. First, plaintiffs sought and obtained a contempt judgment in the contempt action, holding defendant in contempt for "willfully failing to comply with the Settlement Agreement." Air Rescue Systems Corp. v. Lewis , 292 Or. App. 294, 296, 423 P.3d 775 (2018) (reversing contempt judgment). Second, plaintiffs sought and obtained a general judgment in this action. In their motion for entry of that judgment, plaintiffs argued that the parties' agreement had resolved all disputes between them, yet defendant "refuses to consummate the transactions agreed to by the settlement on the record." Plaintiffs offered to the court a proposed judgment that they described as "fully consistent" with the parties' settlement agreement. It included as an attachment a copy of an unsigned draft written settlement agreement. Defendant filed written objections to the proposed form of judgment. Defendant asserted that the proposed judgment and attached unsigned agreement "depart in material ways from the terms the parties agreed to."

The trial court held a hearing on plaintiffs' motion in March 2016. The court remarked that, given defendant's "five pages of objections," it appeared that the parties did not have a settlement after all, had never reached a meeting of the minds, and should go to trial. The court stated that it would not go through each of defendant's objections to "try to distinguish between fallacious arguments or not fallacious arguments." In lieu of "sorting out [defendant's] objections to judgment," the court asked plaintiffs' counsel about the possibility of plaintiffs filing a motion to enforce the settlement agreement as a means to determine whether there was in fact a settlement.

Plaintiffs' counsel then reminded the court that it had agreed at the December hearing that it would be available to assist, if necessary, if something got "bogged down in the paperwork."2 Asked for her position, defendant's counsel *304expressed willingness to work through defendant's individual objections with the court's assistance to see whether the parties could agree on a form of judgment. The court again declined to address defendant's objections individually, rejecting the idea that it would "go through this point by point and clean this mess up for you." Defendant's counsel began to respond, but the court cut her off, stating, "I have a better idea, why don't I draft the judgment and I'll sign it, and you'll live with it or you won't, but that's what it will be. How about that?" As defendant's counsel (who was appearing by telephone) began to respond, the court said over her, "That's what I'll do. I'll draft the judgment." The court declined plaintiffs' offer to provide a Word version of their proposed judgment as a "head-start" and ended the hearing.

Seven months later, the court entered a judgment. The judgment was identical to plaintiffs' proposed judgment, including attaching *810the unsigned written settlement agreement provided by plaintiffs. Paragraph six of the judgment ordered the parties to execute the attached agreement and provided that, if any party refused to execute it, the judgment "shall operate as final and binding adjudication that such Settlement Agreement has been agreed to by the parties hereto, and all of the terms therein are fully binding on and enforceable by the parties as if the same had been signed by the parties." Defendant appeals, assigning error to the trial court's entry of the judgment-which both parties agree was entered as a stipulated judgment pursuant to ORCP 67 F-over her objection.

"A court's authority to enter a judgment based on a stipulation of the parties is described in ORCP 67 F."

*305Hoogendam and Hoogendam , 273 Or. App. 219, 225, 359 P.3d 376 (2015). ORCP 67 F provides that, "after a commencement of an action, a judgment may be given upon stipulation that a judgment for a specified amount or a specific relief may be entered." ORCP 67 F(1). "The stipulation for judgment may be in a writing signed by the parties, their attorneys, or their authorized representatives." ORCP 67 F(2). "If not in writing, the stipulation shall be assented to by all parties thereto in open court." Id.

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Bluebook (online)
423 P.3d 807, 292 Or. App. 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brim-v-lewis-orctapp-2018.