In a recent opinion, NSI International v. Mustafa,1 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York reiterated the strong policy in favor of enforcing settlement agreements between litigants, absent a party establishing clear reasons to disregard it. The opinion reflects the continuation of the general trend in New York federal courts of incentivizing settlements by making their enforcement predictable and robust, also addressing interesting issues of whether various alleged breaches of the particular settlement agreement were (or were not) material.
Magistrate’s Report
On March 26, 2014, Judge Joseph F. Bianco of the Eastern District issued an order enforcing a settlement agreement and denying a motion for sanctions in the case of NSI International. The plaintiff, NSI International, sought to enforce a settlement agreement against the defendant, Mona Mustafa, which the parties had entered into in a previous case.
