Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Partition action for sale of property
I am a Defendant in a partition action for sale of property
in Contra Costa County. The Plantiff's litigating attorney
threatend to have the Plantiff's $30,000 in fees charged to
me only if I did not agree to her terms. My attorney told me he does not litigate and wanted me to settle. I argued
with him and told him her figures were all wrong and I had
documents to prove it. I signed the agreement and I now need to know if it is possible to have this agreement set aside to litigate because I have documents to prove her figures were very wrong! Need Attorney! Thank you.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Partition action for sale of property
First, don't use a transaction lawyer to do your litigating. If you signed the settlement agreement and the document was sent to the other side, send a retraction before they sign it and send you a copy. You may also be able to set aside the settlement by alleging duress, mistake or fraud (of course you must have grounds). Be careful though as the settlement agreement may have an attorney's fees clause. This means that if you breach or unsuccessfully challenge the settlement agreement, you could be liable for the other side's attorney's fees. I would recommend you hire a different lawyer to review the documents and look at your options. Feel free to contact us.
Re: Partition action for sale of property
Unless there is a written agreement between the parties, I cannot see how you can be charged with the attorney fees of the Plaintiff. It appears to be an idle threat. In partition actions, the parties incur their own attonrey fees and costs.
These type of cases generally settle and normally there are strictly accounting issues involved. Our firm handles cases such as these throughout California and should you have any other questions, please contact us.
Re: Partition action for sale of property
Did you sign a settlement agreement? If so, it is probably binding. In partition actions, the Court may divide all the attorney fees among the parties.
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Re: Partition action for sale of property
Setting aside a settlement agreement is very difficult to do, unless you can show either that another party has breached it or that you were induced by fraud into signing it.
Nothing you have said suggests that any of the other parties has breached the agreement, and it sounds like you knew all the pertinent facts when you signed. Perhaps if I knew more of the facts I would see a basis for letting you out of the deal, but based on what you have said I see no such basis.
Your reason for wanting out seems to be that you signed only because you thought you would lose in court. People sign agreements for this reason all the time, and there is nothing wrong with doing so. Your change of heart - even if based upon newly-discovered documents - is no reason a court should force the other parties to litigate a dispute they have already settled.
Keep in mind that your settlement agreement probably includes a clause which requires the losing party to pay the other parties' legal fees and costs in any litigation over the settlement agreement. Thus, while the plaintiff's original threat of making you pay such fees may have been an idle one, you should take that prospect seriously now.