A judge’s finding that an attorney in a wrongful-death action intentionally slipped his summation notes to the jury by including them within medical records did not constitute grounds for throwing out a $1.1 million settlement agreement that was reached as the jury deliberated, a state appeals court has ruled.
A unanimous Appellate Division, Second Department, panel found that stipulations of settlement should be “not lightly set aside” and that defendant North Shore University Hospital failed to establish sufficient cause—such as fraud or mistake—to do so here.
