Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
What can I do if a company that settled with us prior to a court case is not abiding by the terms of the settlement. We sued for libel due to false negative postings the defendant was circulating throughout the internet. We settled out of court and the terms of the settlement stipulated that the defendant had to remove or issue retractions from all of the sources where the negative posting were submitted. The defendant has not done this and the attorney for the defendant isn't responding. What can we do to force that the defendant abides by the terms of the settlement, when we already did our part.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Sue them for breach of contract and specific performance, unless the settlement was judicially supervised, in which case you can file a motion to have judgment entered on the settlement and then file for contempt.
You could be forced to sue again, this time on breach of the settlement agreement.
Your post is confusing. You state that the settlement was made prior to a court case, and then you later state that there was a court filing, and then the case settled.
If you never filed a lawsuit, your only remedy is to file a lawsuit for breach of the settlement agreement, because the setlement agreement is a contract.
If you filed a lawsuit, and entered into the settlement agreement in writing, or orally before the court, it could be enforceable pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6. If this happened, the next question is whether the case was dismissed, and whether the court was requested to retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. If the court did retain jurisdiction, a motion pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6 is the appropriate remedy. If you did not, you may have to set aside the dismissal, and then file the motion.
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