Allstate Indemnity Company v. Price et al

Filing 109

ORDER denying 108 Motion to Enforce Settlement and Motion for additional time to consummate settlement documentation. Signed by Chief Judge William H. Steele on 2/13/2013. (tgw)

N THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
ALLSTATE INDEMNITY COMPANY,
Plaintiff,
v.
THOMAS PRICE, et al.,
Defendants.

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) CIVIL ACTION 12-0324-WS-B
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ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the plaintiff’s motion to enforce settlement and
motion for additional time to consummate the settlement. (Doc. 108). The motion is
based on the death of one defendant before she executed a release. The plaintiff seeks
either enforcement of the terms of the parties’ written settlement agreement or an
extension of the time within which the parties must consummated the settlement
documentation. (Id. at 2).
Upon receiving notification of settlement, the Court dismissed this action with
prejudice, providing any party the ability to reinstate “if the settlement agreement
documentation is not consummated.” (Doc. 107). The Court did not by this order retain
jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. See generally Kokkonen v. Guardian Life
Insurance Co., 511 U.S. 375, 380-82 (1994) (a court does not upon dismissal retain
jurisdiction to monitor the settlement agreement, unless it by order expressly does so or
does so implicitly by incorporating the agreement’s terms in its order). Accordingly, the
motion to enforce settlement is denied.
Nor did the Court permit reinstatement merely because the settlement terms have
not been fully accomplished; rather, reinstatement is permitted only if the settlement
agreement documentation is not consummated. Attached to the plaintiff’s motion is a
fully executed settlement agreement, which provides that each defendant will execute a

release in exchange for a payment of a sum of money. The terms of the settlement
agreement having been reduced to a signed writing (permitting an independent action for
breach of contract), the underlying action may not be reinstated. The motion for
additional time to consummate settlement documentation is denied.
DONE and ORDERED this 13th day of February, 2013.

s/ WILLIAM H. STEELE
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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