Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: nonpayment on settlement

Hopefully your settlement agreement is in writing. If it is, it should spell out your options.

Some settlement agreements give the court continuing jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the settlement. If your agreement contains such terms, you can bring a motion to ask the court to order the other party to pay up.

Your agreement may also permit you to file a judgment now that your opponent has breached; you could then enforce the judgment to collect what is due.

If your settlement agreement doesn't allow either of these things you may have to bring a new lawsuit for breach of contract. The settlement agreement would be the contract that has been breached.

If you don't have a written agreement at all, hopefully the terms of the settlement were recited in court on the record. Otherwise you may have a very difficult time enforcing the agreement.

I should add that the procedures I have described will only work if the other party has assets and/or income from which to pay the settlement. If he doesn't, you may be out of luck.

Re: nonpayment on settlement

Regarding Mr. Hoffman's last point, it would help to get a judgment in any case. Your defendant might eventually obtain assets, so securing(and perhaps recording) a judgment could be useful in the future.

Re: nonpayment on settlement

It may also be helpful to know that there is a specific code section that covers getting a quickie judgment on a settlement agreement that is either in writing or was recited on the record in court. Take a look at Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6.

Re: nonpayment on settlement

Is there a written settlement agreement signed by the parties? If so, you may be able to file a motion to enforce the settlement and obtain a judgment. Otherwise, if that remedy is not available, you would have to sue for breach of contract. Such cases are usually slam dunks (when the only necessary evidence is the existence of the settlement agreement, a failure to pay, and damages). Collecting on the judgment, however, is another story.

Many times, the debtor will make payment, or come to the bargaining table, once you take some action with a lawyer.

Anyway, feel free to contact us with any further questions.

Re: nonpayment on settlement

Contact me directly, I will get the court to enforce the matter by perfecting the settlement agreement as a judgment or by raising contempt charges.