Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Settlement and Cross-claims
one plaintiff, two named defendants; one defendant will settle out of claim w/ plaintiff;
what is the time limit in which non-settling defendant can bring a cross-claim if they have not already done so?
is it possible for the settling defendant to request plaintiff to somehow ''protect'' the settling defendant from any and all suits from the non-settling defendant?
what are the settling defendant's options in order to protect themselves from a cross-claim? thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Settlement and Cross-claims
Because you refer to "named defendants", I presume there is already a suit underway and that both defendants have appeared.
If you want to settle with one defendant, you should probably apply to the court for a determination of good-faith settlement per Section 877 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the court finds that the settlement is reasonable and made in good faith, the settling defendant will have no liability to the other defendant. The non-settling defendant will be able to oppose your application, but if he is unsuccessful then he cannot pursue the settling defendant later.
One caveat here: this procedure only applies if the defendants are either *joint* tortfeasors or co-obligors on a contract. In other words, you can only do this if your suit says the defendants are each to blame for the same injury to you. If each did something different, then the process is not available. Then again, if they each did something different, it is unlikely that either would have any right to recover from the other anyway.
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