Justice Donald Scott Kurtz
Defendants moved to vacate a judgment, restore this action to the trial calendar and enforce a negotiated settlement. This action was previously settled for $19,500, but the agreement was not put into writing, nor placed on the record in open court. Defendants objected to the language in the release provided by plaintiff alleging they understood the settlement amount included all claims, including against defendants and their insurer. Plaintiff filed a judgment with the county court after failing to receive payment under the alleged settlement. Defendants claimed the settlement was not reduced to writing and the conference before a judge did not satisfy the "open court" requirement of CPLR 2104. Plaintiff attached an eLaw printout reflecting the action was marked "settled before trial," claiming this satisfied the open court requirement. The court disagreed stating a clerk’s notation "settled before trial" did not constitute a sufficient memorialization of the terms of an alleged settlement so as to satisfy the open court requirement. It concluded as there was no writing memorializing the terms of the settlement, nor was the matter settled in open court, the purported settlement was unenforceable. Hence, the action was restored to the trial calendar.
