Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Settlement contract

I can't answer your question with any certainty because I don't know exactly what the contract says. I can tell you, however, that most California lawyers would include a waiver clause in such a contract to make sure that the other side would not be able to resurrect the claim later. You probably have nothing of the sort in your contract, so there is a chance the other party will make a claim somewhere down the line. There's no way for me to say how likely that is, though.

Re: Settlement contract

Thanks for your inquiry. The contract may be enough to make the other party believe that it will not be possible to sue if anything else comes up, but strictly speaking, it doesn't meet the legal requirements of California Law.

For one, California law requires in a release of any civil claims that you cite the text California Civil Code section 1542 within the agreement. Failing to do so could give the other side the argument that the document is not legally binding, or more importantly, the right to claim that they were not fully advised of their rights under the law regarding future claims as to this accident.

However, repeating what I said earlier, even though your contract does not seem to be legal (and I must concur that a lawyer should read through the entire document to say it is, or is not legal under the law), it may be enough to have the other party take it on faith and not sue you in the future. Best of luck, and if you have other questions, please email me directly at [email protected]

Re: Settlement contract

Without reviewing it, it sounds legal, but as the previous answers stated, most attorneys want to include the further waiver of any actions discovered after signing the release--this means the release is absolute, no matter what other avenues to sue are discovered after signing the release. Otherwise, the person could sue you later if, say, he discovers some back injury AFTER signing the release. Still, the release would bar other claims.