Participants in a recent online forum sought guidance on the basics of settlement agreements created under Rule 11 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. That discussion answered the question haunting anyone who writes a recurring article—what the hell do we talk about next time? So, with many thanks for the prompt, this article will discuss the basic elements of settlement agreements documented under Rule 11 and the mechanisms to enforce those agreements.
Rule 11 provides:
Unless otherwise provided in these rules, no agreement between attorneys or parties touching any suit pending will be enforced unless it be in writing, signed and filed with the papers as part of the record, or unless it be made in open court and entered of record.
An 1857 Texas Supreme Court case stated that the requirement to memorialize agreements between attorneys and parties in writing avoided the pitfalls of oral agreements. The court feared that oral agreements “are very liable to be misconstrued or forgotten, and to beget misunderstandings and controversies.” Oh, surely not!
