Federal Court in Ohio Upholds Oral Settlement Agreement Reached in Mediation
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Applying Ohio and Sixth Circuit law, a federal court in Ohio upheld an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, even though plaintiffs changed their minds after mediation and refused to sign a written agreement. The court found that an agreement had been reached in mediation because settlement was reported to the court by the mediator and was confirmed by plaintiffs’ counsel asking for more time to obtain signatures. However, plaintiffs had forgotten to ask that their credit history be cleaned up until after the mediation and refused to sign the settlement agreement when the additional term could not be added. The court concluded that mediation confidentiality did not bar enforcement of the settlement because the court did not need to know the terms of the agreement. The court also noted that even if Ohio’s statute of frauds applied to oral settlement agreements related to land, in this case finalizing the settlement terms with the mediator during a Settlement Week mediation was no different than reading the terms into the record in open court, so the settlement was binding.
Tsakanikas v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC (U.S.D.C. S.D. Ohio, June 20, 2013).
Read original articleTags: Mediation Applying Ohio, Ohio, Settlement Agreement
