Schuler v. Hernandez

Opinion

LILLIE, P. J.

Cross-complainant Dale Schuler appeals from an order dismissing his “Cross-Complaint for Declaratory Relief for Comparative Implied Indemnity” against cross-defendants Lucia Hernandez and Ronald Williams upon the determination by the trial court that Hernandez and Williams entered into a good faith settlement with plaintiff Santha Anderson-Williams.

Schuler contends the payment of $100,000 by Williams to plaintiff did not constitute a settlement of plaintiff’s claims against Williams and/or Hernandez and that if it did it was not a settlement made in good faith.

[1305]

I

Factual and Procedural Background

On August 27, 1984, plaintiff Anderson-Williams drove to the home of her estranged husband, Williams, and asked Lucia Hernandez, who was Williams’s housekeeper, to follow her on an errand in a car owned by Williams. As plaintiff prepared to leave Williams’s driveway she was hit from the rear by the vehicle driven by Hernandez which propelled her vehicle into the pathway of oncoming traffic where she was broadsided by defendant and cross-complainant Schuler.

On December 17, 1984, plaintiff filed a suit for personal injury naming Lucia Hernandez, Ronald Williams and Dale Schuler as defendants.

On April 22, 1986, apparently before Schuler had been served with the complaint, Hernandez and Williams settled with plaintiff for the sum of $100,000. Plaintiff executed a release of all claims in favor of both Williams and Hernandez.

On September 9, 1986, Schuler filed an answer to plaintiff’s complaint and filed a cross-complaint against Hernandez and Williams for declaratory relief for comparative implied indemnity.

Hernandez and Williams filed a motion for determination of good faith settlement. In support of said motion, they submitted the declaration of Thomas L. Engel who declared that he was the attorney for Hernandez and Williams and that they had entered into a settlement with plaintiff for the sum of $100,000, which was the limit of liability of a policy of insurance owned by Williams; in exchange, plaintiff executed a release of all claims and rights against and in favor of Williams and Hernandez; at the time of the accident Hernandez was following plaintiff in a car owned by Williams and was a domestic employee of Williams; plaintiff was unemployed; and as a result of the collision she sustained a fractured elbow and three fractured vertebras and did not require surgery for her back problem.