Q: Does anyone know of any cases were in a settlement agreement, one received a default judgment of a cross complaint?
In my settlement with an auto dealership I agreed to accept their default judgement from their cross complaint. The court clerks are not familat with anything like this case and are requiring us to go to trail for the award of the judgement and amount. We are having difficulties finding any cases to site on this matter. Any help is appreciated.
A:
The problem is most likely the document that has been submitted to the court. The parties are free to enter into a settlement agreement and the terms can be far reaching in their scope. The Court generally does not care about the terms of the settlement, provided the "entire action" is being dismissed, so that they can close their file from the judge's point of view. Maybe the dismissal form did not include the cross-complaint. There are several boxes to check on the Request for Dismissal form and that may be the problem.
It appears that the clerk still views the file as “active” for some reason and that is why the clerk is expecting the case to proceed to trial. If there is a “Request for Dismissal” filed that covers all of the claims, including the Cross-Complaint, the clerk should no longer expect any remaining issues to be subject to a trial.
As such, you need to have a written agreement with the dealership that spells out the settlement. Once that is signed (and money changes hands, if applicable) the “Dismissal” should be filed and the clerk can make an entry in the computer that the case is “over.”
A:
If I understand your question, you will need to prove up your amount of damages so that you can turn your case into a judgment.
http://taxbizlawyer.com/civil-litigation-orange-county.htm
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