# Phillips v. Pilgrim Creek Estates Homeowners Association

> District Court, S.D. California · March 2, 2020

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10080683

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, S.D. California
- **Decided:** March 2, 2020
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10080683

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- affirming district court’s award of $1,000 in sanction for 25 the plaintiff’s “unreasonable failure to sign the written [settlement] agreement.”

## Opinion text

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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10
11 JEFFREY PHILLIPS et al., Case No.: 19-CV-102-AJB(WVG)

12 Plaintiffs,
REPORT AND
13 v. RECOMMENDATION RE:
ENFORCING SETTLEMENT
14 PILGRIM CREEK ESTATES
AGREEMENT AND ENTERING
HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION,
15 JUDGMENT
Defendant.
16
[Doc. No. 29.]
17
18 After, having reached agreement to settle this case and placed the material terms on
19 the record before this Court, pro se Plaintiff Jeffrey Phillips has continuously attempted to
20 quibble and alter the settlement terms he clearly agreed to be bound by on multiple
21 occasions. Although this Court has extensively discussed these issues with the parties for
22 multiple hours over multiple in-person conferences and teleconferences, Phillips persists
23 in obstructing the finalization of settlement in this case by refusing to sign a draft settlement
24 agreement that all other parties agree accurately reflects the oral settlement on the record.
25 Defendant now moves to compel enforcement of the settlements, and co-Plaintiff June
26 Phillips—Jeffrey’s own mother—joins Defendant’s motion. As explained below, this
27 Court RECOMMENDS that the Court grant Defendant’s motion without an evidentiary
28 hearing, impose sanctions, award attorneys’ fees, enter final Judgment, and close the case.
1 I. BACKGROUND
2 Defendant Pilgrim Creek Estates Homeowners Association is a planned
3 development, consisting of 203 single-family homes. Defendant is a senior citizen housing
4 community that requires that one occupant of each lot is a senior citizen who is 55 years of
5 age or older. All other occupants must be a qualified permanent resident or a permitted
6 health care resident, as those terms are defined in the Second Restated Declaration of
7 Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.
8 Plaintiff Jeff Phillips is the trustee of the Phillips Family Trust, the owner of a home
9 within Defendant. In mid-2015, Jeffrey Phillips’s father, who resided with Plaintiff June
10 Phillips passed away. Later in 2015, Jeffrey Phillips moved into the home, presumably to
11 assist his mother, co-Plaintiff June Phillips.
12 Since 2016, Plaintiffs have requested that a reasonable accommodation be made to
13 allow them to park vehicles overnight on the street. After failed mediation attempts,
14 Plaintiffs filed a Complaint alleging three causes of action for (1) Violation of the Fair
15 Housing Act, (2) Violation of California Fair Employment and Housing Act and (3)
16 Violation of California.
17 June and Jeffrey Phillips were initially represented by the same attorney until August
18 8, 2019, when the Court granted their counsel’s motion to withdraw as Jeffrey’s attorney
19 and to continue representing June. (Doc. No. 22.) Since then, Jeffrey has proceeded pro
20 se in this matter and continues to do so. Prior to August 8, counsel represented Jeffrey
21 during two settlement conferences on March 18, 2019 and May 9, 2019.
22 The March 18, 2019 settlement conference was in-person and all parties attended.
23 The parties—including Jeffrey—negotiated a partial settlement of the case, agreeing to
24 certain non-monetary terms. The Court placed the terms of that settlement on the record,
25 the transcript of which appears on the docket as entry number 10. The specific non-
26 monetary terms of the settlement were:
27 1. “‘An order forcing the Homeowners Association to grant plaintiffs’ request
28 for a reasonable accommodation to park Plaintiff Jeff Phillips’ vehicle on the street at their
1 home.’ The accommodation that the Homeowners Association has provided is to park on
2 Pilgrim Way next to the pool and the clubhouse, the third parking spot.” The parking spot
3 would be designated “reserved” for Plaintiffs by having “‘reserved’ painted in the parking
4 space area.” Defendant agreed to complete this project within 10 days of March 18, 2019.
5 (Doc. No. 10 at 3-4.)
6 2. Although Defendant’s representatives did not admit to past retaliatory
7 activities, they agreed to “‘[a]n order to cease and desist from all retaliatory actions, such
8 as fines and citations.’” However, if Plaintiff’s violated the HOA’s CC&Rs, then the HOA
9 board could take appropriate enforcement action. (Id. at 4-5.)
10 3. “‘An order restoring plaintiffs’ access to all common areas.’” This included
11 returning to Plaintiffs their keys to common areas. (Id. at 5-6.)
12 4. “‘An order compelling the Homeowners Association to rescind any fines or
13 citations, and correcting homeowner records to remove such entries.’” This provision also
14 required Defendant to “refund fine money that has been previously paid.” (Id. at 6-7.)
15 5. “‘[A]n order compelling the Homeowners Association to remove any
16 derogatory credit remarks [to the extent any such remarks existed].’” (Id. at 8.)
17 6. “‘An order to adopt written policies and procedures to handle reasonable
18 accommodation requests.’” (Id. at 8.)
19 7. “‘An order requiring training of Homeowners’ management personnel.’” (Id.
20 at 9.)
21 After listing these non-monetary terms, the Court confirmed that all parties
22 understood the terms and agreed to be bound by them. Specifically, Jeffrey stated he
23 understood and agreed to be bound by the terms. (Id. at 12:2-8.) However, given that this
24 was only a partial settlement, the Court ordered the parties to appear for a second in-person
25 settlement conference.
26 The Court convened the second settlement conference on May 9, 2019 with all
27 parties present again, including Jeffrey Phillips. Although the parties did not reach
28 agreement on a monetary amount to resolve the case, they addressed issues that had come
1 up with the delayed implementation of some of the terms from the first settlement
2 conference. The parties negotiated further resolution of these terms, and the Court placed
3 the clarified terms on the record. (See Doc. No. 16.) Specifically, Defendant had calculated
4 that the total fine amount that it previously agreed to reimburse Plaintiffs was $1,800; the
5 parties agreed that the “reserved” spot painting could wait until after a third party repaved
6 the property’s roads and parking lots, which included the reserved parking spot; and
7 Defendant agreed there would be no further rules violations notices issued for potted plants
8 on Plaintiffs’ property. There were no new agreements placed on the record—just
9 refinements and clarifications of terms reached at the first settlement conference. Jeffrey
10 Phillips expressed his understanding and agreement on the record. (Doc. No. 16 at 7-8.)
11 The Court convened the third in-person settlement conference on September 10,
12 2019, and all parties, including Jeffrey Phillips, were again present. (See Doc. No. 25.) At
13 this conference, the parties agreed to monetary terms to finally complete the resolution of
14 this case. Specifically, Defendant agreed to the following two additional terms (numbering
15 continued from the list above):
16 8. Defendant agreed to compensate Plaintiffs the amount of $70,000; and

17
9. The compensation would be apportioned as follows: (a) $25,000 paid to
18 Steven Derby and/or his firm Derby, McGuinness & Goldsmith and (b)
$45,000 paid to Plaintiff June Phillips.
19

20 (Id. at 4.) As part of the process of confirming the terms of the global settlement, this Court
21 addressed Jeffrey specifically to confirm that he understood the terms of the monetary
22 terms above, that the global settlement included the non-monetary terms reached in the two
23 prior settlement conferences, that he agreed to be bound by all of these terms, and that by
24 agreeing to these terms the litigation would be concluded. (Id. at 5-6.) In each instance,
25 Jeffrey stated that he understood and agreed, thus once again agreeing to be bound by the
26 non-monetary terms from the prior settlements. (Id.)
27 Unfortunately, the litigation did not conclude there, as Jeffrey has refused to sign a
28 settlement agreement with the above terms and has continued to attempt to modify the
1 agreement. Since the third settlement conference, this Court has held two settlement
2 disposition conferences on October 29, 2019 and November 18, 2019 during which the
3 Court spent nearly two hours attempting to resolve the stalemate between the parties in
4 signing a settlement agreement.
5 At the October 29, 2019 settlement disposition conference, the Court’s aim was to
6 determine what the holdup was in finalizing settlement and filing a joint motion to dismiss
7 the case. The Court learned that the holdup was Jeffrey Phillips’s continuing quibbling
8 about minutia and attempting to alter the terms of the settlement. However, both defense
9 counsel and June Phillips’s counsel agreed that the settlement agreement defense counsel
10 had drafted accurately set forth all the terms of the settlement. (See Doc. No. 39 at 9:6-
11 10.) To resolve the holdup, defense counsel had proposed attaching the transcripts of the
12 three settlements to the settlement agreement—a proposal that was abandoned later on the
13 teleconference in favor of adding to the agreement an attachment with the terms laid out in
14 list format. (Id. at 30-31.) In this regard, to simplify and delineate the terms of the
15 settlement, defense counsel had created an “attachment A” to the settlement that set forth
16 the following nine terms:
17 1. Defendant PILGRIM CREEK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
(“HOA”) shall permit Plaintiff JUNE PHILLIPS to park a single car in her
18
garage at her residence as a reasonable accommodation for her disability;
19
2. HOA shall provide Plaintiff JEFF PHILLIPS with a single parking stall
20
marked “Reserved” in reflectorized paint on the spot and with a sign at the
21 head of the spot stating “Reserved” with no other information. The spot shall
be located on Pilgrim Way next to the pool;
22

23 3. HOA agrees to cease and desist from any retaliatory actions against
Plaintiffs now or in the future. However, HOA reserves the right to enforce
24
the CC&R’s in a fair and even-handed manner;
25
4. HOA will restore, to the extent not already restored, Plaintiffs’ access
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to all common areas;
27
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1 5. HOA has rescinded all fines and citations and has corrected homeowner
records to remove such entries;
2

3 6. HOA has returned the sum of $1,800 to homeowners representing fines
levied for “potted plant” citations;
4

5 7. HOA represents that there are no derogatory credit remarks owing to
fines or citations issued by them but if any such should be discovered, HOA
6
will have them removed or reversed upon Plaintiffs’ written request within 30
7 days of such request;

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8. HOA has adopted written policies and procedures (attached as Exhibit
9 “B”) which have already been implemented and will continue to be adhered
to by HOA; and
10

11 9. HOA will annually train all HOA Board members and management
personnel on these written policies and procedures.
12

13 (“Attachment ‘A’ to Settlement Agreement and Release Agreement,” Ex. 1 to Burfening
14 Decl., Doc. No. 29-1 at 17.)1 June Phillips’s attorney concurred that this attachment
15 accurately reflected the material terms of the settlement that had been placed on the record.
16 The Court reviewed each of these terms on the record and likewise confirmed that the
17 attachment’s accurate recitation of the terms reached before this Court. (Id. at 35-39.) The
18 Court discussed other matters at length and set a second deadline to file a joint motion to
19 dismiss and scheduled another settlement disposition conference.
20

21
1 The only difference between this nine-point list and the seven terms this Court set forth
22
on the record and summarized herein above is the inclusion of item 1 and item 6 in the
23 attachment. However, these were not additional terms not contemplated by the parties.
Item 1 simply makes explicit that the HOA agreed to provide the Phillips household a
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reserved parking spot (Item 2), which was necessary to allow parking of one car inside the
25 Phillips garage rather than two cars. Item 1 is not an additional term; it is simply a requisite
predicate to item 2. Item 1 was contemplated by all parties and is not in dispute.
26
Item 6 was combined in the Court’s recitation of terms as term 4—that the HOA
27 would rescind any fines and citations and then refund any fines already paid. While the
Court combined these two in its recitation, defense counsel separately listed them in the
28
1 At the second settlement disposition conference on November 18, 2019, the Court
2 yet again queried why a joint motion to dismiss had not been filed. Despite the Court’s
3 efforts at the last teleconference, Jeffrey continued to quibble and seek unnecessary
4 clarification about matters that didn’t need to be clarified. Jeffrey informed the Court the
5 parties were close to signing the settlement agreement and just had two more points to
6 clarify. (Doc. No. 20 at 4.) However, as the Court had repeatedly stated on the first
7 teleconference, the terms of the settlement—as itemized in defense counsel’s “attachment
8 A”—were clear, unambiguous, and accurate. June Phillips’s counsel again stated that the
9 settlement agreement defense counsel had drafted was acceptable to June. (Id.; id. at 16.)
10 However, Jeffrey wanted to “clarify” whether the HOA’s agreement to restore his access
11 to the common RV parking lot included allowing him to park three non-RV vehicles that
12 he had previously parked in that lot in violation of the HOA rules. The revisions to the
13 settlement agreement that he had proposed inserted this additional provision, which, as
14 defense counsel correctly noted, was never discussed as part of the settlement of this case.
15 (Id. at 14:18-22.) Defense counsel also reassured Jeffrey that this settlement does not bar
16 any future claims—only past claims—and appeared confident the parties could sign the
17 settlement agreement with these two items removed. The teleconference ended with this
18 Court’s heart full of hope . . . .
19 . . . . only to have those hopes dashed. Instead of a joint motion to dismiss, Defendant
20 filed the instant motion to compel enforcement of the settlement. Plaintiff June Phillips
21 joins Defendant’s motion. (Doc. No. 37.)
22 II. LEGAL STANDARD
23 A district court has the inherent power to enforce settlement agreements entered into
24 by the parties in cases pending before it. In re City Equities Anaheim, Ltd., 22 F.3d 954,
25 957 (9th Cir. 1994); Marks-Foreman v. Reporter Publ’g Co., 12 F. Supp. 2d 1089, 1092
26 (S.D. Cal. 1998). This inherent authority applies to settlement agreements entered on the
27 record but later reneged on by one party. See Henderson v. Yard House Glendale, LLC,
28 456 F. App’x 701, 702 (9th Cir. 2011) (“The district court did not abuse its discretion in
1 enforcing the settlement agreement after [Plaintiff] entered into it on the record in open
2 court, but later refused to execute a formal agreement to dismiss the action. . . .”); Ewing
3 v. K2 Prop. Dev., LLC, No. 16CV678-LAB(AGS), 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 172810, at *6
4 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2018).
5 To enforce a settlement agreement, two elements must be satisfied. Marks-
6 Foreman, 12 F. Supp. 2d at 1092. First, the settlement agreement must be complete. Id.
7 (citing Maynard v. City of San Jose, 37 F.3d 1396, 1401 (9th Cir. 1994); Doi v. Halekulani
8 Corp., 276 F.3d 1131, 1137 (9th Cir. 2002)). Second, the settlement agreement must be
9 the result of an agreement of the parties or their authorized representatives concerning the
10 terms of the settlement. Marks-Foreman, 12 F. Supp. 2d at 1092 (citing Harrop v. Western
11 Airlines, Inc., 550 F.2d 1143, 1144-45 (9th Cir. 1977), Doi, 276 F.3d at 1137-38). Where
12 parties raise objections after the parties agree to a settlement, the court may rightfully deny
13 such objections. Harrop, 550 F.2d at 1144.
14 “Assessing the validity of a settlement agreement . . . is a question of state contract
15 law.” Golden v. Cal. Emergency Physicians Med. Grp., 782 F.3d 1083, 1087 (9th Cir.
16 2015) (“Typically, the construction and enforcement of settlement agreements are
17 governed by principles of local law which apply to interpretation of contracts generally.”
18 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). Under California law, a valid contract
19 requires parties capable of contracting, consent, a lawful object, and consideration. Cal.
20 Civ. Code § 1550; Lopez v. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., 118 Cal. App. 4th 1224, 1230
21 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004). “[U]nless a writing is required by the statute of frauds, oral settlement
22 agreements are enforceable in the same manner as oral agreements in general.”2 Nicholson
23 v. Barab, 233 Cal. App. 3d 1671, 1681 (Cal. Ct. App. 1991); see id. at 1682 (listing
24
25

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2 Here, California’s statute of frauds, California Civil Code section 1624, is not applicable
27 because the alleged oral agreement is not one of the seven types of contracts listed in
section 1624 as “invalid” without a writing. Thus, the oral agreement on the record is
28
1 California cases in which out-of-court oral settlement agreements were found to be
2 enforceable).
3 III. DISCUSSION
4 A. The Terms of the Settlement Entered on the Record Should Be Enforced and
5 Judgment Should be Entered
6 There is no question that all parties to this case resolved this matter on the terms set
7 forth on the record and as reflected in the settlement agreement and its “attachment A.”
8 There is also no question that they did so knowingly, voluntarily, and with full knowledge
9 of the facts and circumstances necessary to enter into settlement. Accordingly, the
10 settlement should be enforced and final judgment should be entered. The Court now
11 addresses each of the elements of a binding contract under California Civil Code section
12 1550, which requires a valid contract to have parties capable of contracting, consent, a
13 lawful object, and consideration.
14 1. Parties Capable of Contracting
15 Pursuant to California Civil Code section 1556, all persons are capable of
16 contracting “except minors, persons of unsound mind, and persons deprived of civil rights.”
17 None of these exceptions apply here.
18 2. Mutual Assent
19 “Mutual assent is determined under an objective standard applied to the outward
20 manifestations or expressions of the parties, i.e., the reasonable meaning of their words
21 and acts, and not their unexpressed intentions or understandings.” Serafin v. Balco
22 Properties Ltd., LLC, 235 Cal. App. 4th 165, 173 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015) (citations and
23 internal quotations omitted).
24 Applying this objective standard, the Court finds the parties mutually manifested
25 assent to settle this case on the terms put on the record before this Court on three separate
26 occasions. On March 18, 2019, both Plaintiffs, Defendant, and their attorneys participated
27 on a teleconference before this Court and memorialized the non-monetary terms of the
28 settlement. (See Doc. No. 10.) This Court recited the essential non-monetary terms of the
1 settlement, and all parties and counsel stated they understood those terms. All parties,
2 including Jeffrey Phillips, then expressly and unequivocally agreed to be bound by those
3 terms to settle this case.
4 On May 19, 2019, all parties and their attorneys appeared in person for a second
5 Early Neutral Evaluation conference. After arms-length negotiations before this Court, the
6 parties agreed to additional settlement terms, which were then placed on the record before
7 this Court. (See Doc. No. 16.) These terms included a final calculation of $1,800 in past
8 fees that would be reimbursed to Plaintiffs, an agreement that the HOA would no longer
9 issue violation notices for potted plants or trees on Plaintiffs’ property, that there would be
10 no future retaliation by the HOA, and that the HOA could enforce its rules in the future as
11 it would against any other homeowner who violated the rules. Plaintiffs both confirmed
12 they understood and were satisfied with these clarified terms.
13 On September 10, 2019, this Court convened a teleconference on which all parties
14 and their attorneys appeared.3 Defense counsel recited the essential monetary terms of the
15 settlement and clarified details of certain non-monetary terms. All parties and counsel then
16 stated they understood those terms, and the parties—including Jeffrey Phillips—agreed to
17 be bound by those terms to settle this case. (Doc. No. 25 at 5-6.) Notably, the terms placed
18 on the record during the prior two conferences were incorporated by references into this
19 third conference, and this Court expressly confirmed Jeffrey (1) understood that the terms
20 were being incorporated, (2) that he understood those prior terms, and (3) that he once
21 again agreed to be bound by those prior terms. (Id. at 5:14-25.) Jeffrey affirmatively and
22 unequivocally answered all three of these inquiries. (Id. at 5:20, 5:22, 5:25.)
23 Briefly stated, there can be no clearer objective manifestation of assent than what
24 transpired here: a party stating on the record on multiple occasions that he understood terms
25
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27 3 At the time of the first two settlements on the record, attorney Derby represented both
June and Jeffrey Phillips. However, counsel for June Phillips had previously withdrawn
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1 and agreed to be bound by them. There can be no doubt that Jeffrey expressly and
2 objectively manifested his assent to all of the non-monetary terms.
3 Jeffrey now contends this settlement should not be enforced because the terms he
4 agreed to are not reasonable accommodations that remedy the ADA issues raised in the
5 complaint. This argument is simultaneously false and a red herring. Jeffrey’s argument is
6 false because the specific accommodation he references—the reserved parking space he
7 claims is too far from his mother’s house—in fact accommodates the Phillips household
8 by allowing the parking of a single car in a two-car garage, which in turn allows June
9 Phillips the ability to more comfortably enter and exit a car in the garage. Defendant
10 granting the Phillips household its own reserved parking spot directly relates to the
11 Complaint’s allegation that “[o]n November 1, 2016, Plaintiff JUNE PHILLIPS provided
12 a doctor’s note via email to the HOA asking for reasonable accommodation to park one of
13 the vehicles on the street.” (Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 11.) As Plaintiffs explained to this Court
14 during settlement discussions, the reason an outside-of-the-garage parking spot was needed
15 was to allow for June to enter and exit a car inside the garage with ease. The reserved
16 parking spot directly addresses and fulfills this need and allegation. Jeffrey, however, is
17 now displeased with the distance the parking space is from his mother’s home, where he
18 has lived for several years. That distance, however, was a readily-available fact he was
19 fully aware of during settlement discussions since he knew where his mother’s house was
20 located in relation to the proposed parking spot. He agreed to the settlement term knowing
21 full well the distance between his mother’s home and the proposed parking spot.
22 Jeffrey’s argument is also a red herring for two reasons. First, settlement terms need
23 not necessarily tie directly to the gravamen of a complaint. Parties can come to any
24 mutually-agreeable terms to settle and resolve a case without further litigation. Jeffrey’s
25 contrived argument now is simply a result of his ex-post facto dissatisfaction about not
26 extracting everything he wanted from Defendant. That, however, is no reason to invalidate
27 such a clearly-binding settlement. Second, the distance of the parking spot from the house
28 is wholly irrelevant. The parking spot term is in fact a reasonable accommodation for June
1 Phillips because it allows her to park one car in her home’s garage and thus provides her
2 the ability for easier entry and exit of that car. Accordingly, regardless of where the
3 reserved parking spot is located, June Phillips—the only person the Complaint hints needs
4 accommodation—has been accommodated. Jeffrey may not enjoy the walk to his new
5 reserved parking spot, but that is irrelevant since the Complaint never alleged he was in
6 need of such an accommodation. (See Doc. No. 1 ¶ 11.)4
7 Because the parties clearly expressed their mutual assent before this Court and on
8 the record, there is no doubt they each expressly manifested their assent to settle this case
9 and that the above terms were the essential and material terms to which both parties
10 assented.
11 3. Lawful Object
12 The object of the settlement is lawful as it requires Defendant to make a settlement
13 payment and agree to various non-monetary terms in exchange for Plaintiffs’ release of
14 their claims against Defendant in the instant case. See Madani v. Cty. of Santa Clara, 2019
15 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16736, at *21 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 31, 2019) (settlement payment in exchange
16 for release of claims is a lawful object of settlement agreement).
17 4. Consideration
18 Finally, the settlement is supported by consideration. Consideration is satisfied
19 when a party (1) confers or agrees to confer a benefit on a party not entitled to that benefit,
20 or (2) suffers or agrees to suffer a prejudice that a party is not legally bound to suffer. Cal.
21 Civ. Code § 1605; see 1 Witkin, Summary 11th Contracts § 202 (2018) (“Consideration
22 may be an act, forbearance, change in legal relations, or a promise.”). Here, the settlement
23 requires Defendant to pay Plaintiffs a settlement payment. Plaintiffs have also secured
24

25
4 Yes, Paragraph 10 of the Complaint loosely alleged that “Plaintiffs” made written requests
26
for the parking accommodation, but Paragraph 11 is the only allegation that references who
27 actually needed that accommodation. To this day, this Court is unclear what the basis for
Jeffrey’s need for any accommodation is, and the Complaint certainly does not contain any
28
1 various non-monetary benefits they sought and vigorously fought for. In exchange,
2 Plaintiffs will dismiss the case. Therefore, the settlement is supported by consideration.
3 Madani, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16736, at *24 (settlement supported by consideration
4 where it required settlement payment in exchange for dismissal of lawsuit).
5 B. The Settlement Agreement is Complete; An Evidentiary Hearing is Not
6 Required or Necessary Under the Circumstances Here
7 The Ninth Circuit has cautioned that district courts “may enforce only complete
8 settlement agreements.” Callie v. Near, 829 F.2d 888, 890 (9th Cir. 1987). “A complete
9 agreement is “one where the parties have manifested their mutual assent to all the material
10 terms.” Lee v. Retail Store Emple. Bldg. Corp., No. 15CV4768-LHK, 2018 U.S. Dist.
11 LEXIS 5707, at *13 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2018) (citation and quotations omitted). “Where
12 material facts concerning the existence or terms of an agreement to settle are in dispute,
13 the parties must be allowed an evidentiary hearing.” Callie, 829 F.2d at 890 (citations
14 omitted). The Court must hold an evidentiary hearing “[w]here material facts concerning
15 the existence or terms of an agreement to settle are in dispute . . . .” Callie v. Near, 829
16 F.2d 888, 890 (9th Cir. 1987) (emphasis in original).
17 Here, there can be no dispute what the material terms of the agreement were or
18 whether the parties assented to them. Unlike other cases where settlement is reached out
19 of court and a dispute exists over what exactly the parties agreed to, there can be no such
20 dispute here. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Doi v. Halekulani Corp., 276 F.3d 1131 (9th
21 Cir. 2002) is directly on point:
22 In the typical case when one party seeks to enforce a settlement
agreement against another, parties exchange phone calls and e-mails, and
23
perhaps even drafts of a settlement agreement, outside of court. At some
24 point in the process, one party concludes that a final agreement has been
reached; the other party, however, disagrees. We can understand how a party
25
could dispute having made a binding agreement in such a case.
26
This, however, is not the typical case. Rather, here, the plaintiff made
27
a binding settlement agreement in open court: when read the terms of the
28 agreement, and asked if she agreed with them, Doi simply responded, “yeah.”
1 At a time where the resources of the federal judiciary, and this Circuit
especially, are strained to the breaking point, we cannot countenance a
2
plaintiff’s agreeing to settle a case in open court, then subsequently
3 disavowing the settlement when it suits her. The courts spend enough time
on the merits of litigation; we need not (and therefore ought not) open the
4
flood gates to this kind of needless satellite litigation.
5
Thus, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion by
6
finding that Doi’s response in open court, after the terms of the settlement
7 agreement were recited, constituted a binding agreement to settle.
8
Doi, 276 F.3d at 1141. When both the terms of the settlement and the parties’ mutual
9
assent thereto is clear, an evidentiary hearing is not required. Id. at 1139 (“[T]here was no
10
need for an evidentiary hearing on whether an agreement existed, or what its terms were:
11
the parties dispelled any such questions in open court.”).
12
Here, as in Doi, both the terms of the settlement and the parties’ mutual assent to
13
those terms are crystal clear and on the record before this Court on multiple occasions.
14
Accordingly, there is no need to hold an evidentiary hearing here.
15
C. Judgment Should Be Entered Instead of Ordering Signing of the Agreement
16
Defendant requests an Order from the Court compelling Jeffrey Phillips to sign the
17
settlement agreement submitted as exhibit 1 to Burfening’s declaration in support of
18
Defendant’s motion. (Doc. No. 29-1 at 10-17.) However, given this Court’s extensive
19
experience with Jeffrey Phillips, it is abundantly clear that requiring him to sign a
20
settlement agreement will only lead to further unjustified, frustrating delay as he continues
21
to quibble about immaterial matters and conjure up further obstacles to resolution of this
22
case. Instead, this Court respectfully urges the Court to reduce the settlement agreement
23
to judgment, enter the judgment, and terminate this case. Other courts have entered
24
judgment upon enforcing settlement agreements.
25
Most notably, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s entry of
26
judgment in a case starkly on all fours with the instant case. In Doi v. Halekulani Corp.,
27
276 F.3d 1131 (9th Cir. 2002), the parties had entered into a settlement before the district
28
1 court, and the terms were orally placed on the record. The plaintiff then refused to sign the
2 settlement agreement. Without first holding an evidentiary hearing, the district court
3 eventually found that the settlement agreement was binding and enforceable. The district
4 court also found sanctions and attorneys’ fees were in order. And the court ultimately
5 entered judgment and dismissed the case with prejudice. The Ninth Circuit upheld the
6 district court’s order in its entirety. Doi is directly on point—all of the circumstances that
7 led to the district court’s actions there are present in this case. As the district court did in
8 Doi, the Court here should enter judgment as well. In addition to the district court in Doi,
9 other courts have entered judgment upon enforcing settlement agreements. See, e.g.,
10 Shandong Wanbao Grp. Co. v. reRubber LLC, No. 16CV765-VAP-DTBx, 2019 U.S. Dist.
11 LEXIS 152453 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 5, 2019) (finding the parties had entered into a binding
12 settlement agreement to have judgment entered for $5,000,000 and reducing the agreement
13 to judgment after the defendants failed to make a payment); Above the Ceiling, LLC v. W.
14 Architectural Servs., No. 15CV1766-JAD-GWF, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118290 (D. Nev.
15 June 27, 2019) (recommending granting the plaintiff’s motion to enforce a settlement
16 agreement and reducing to judgment a $275,000 settlement secured via e-mail
17 communications between the parties), adopted by Above the Ceiling, LLC v. W.
18 Architectural Servs., No. 15CV1766-JAD-GWF, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117839 (D. Nev.
19 July 16, 2019); Holabird v. Kagin, No. 14CV262-HDM-CBC, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
20 223634, at *30 (D. Nev. Dec. 18, 2018) (finding the defendants had breached the settlement
21 agreement and that the breach had caused $499,210.10 in damages and recommending that
22 judgment be entered in this amount in favor of the plaintiffs), adopted by Holabird v.
23 Kagin, No. 14CV262-HDM-CBC, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66546 (D. Nev. Apr. 17, 2019);
24 United States v. Bauer, No. CV-17-08049-PCT-JJT, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174327 (D.
25 Ariz. Oct. 10, 2018) (finding the parties had entered into a binding settlement and reducing
26 the settlement agreement to judgment.); Timmon v. Invest Inself, L.L.C., No. 17CV11035,
27 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92864 (E.D. Mich. May 8, 2018) (recommending reduction to
28 judgment of an oral settlement agreement made on the record), adopted by Timmon v.
1 Invest Inself, Ltd. Liab. Co., No. 17-11035, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90632 (E.D. Mich. May
2 31, 2018) (imposing sanctions and attorneys’ fees and reducing both to judgment).
3 Entry of judgment here is warranted because Plaintiff Jeffrey Phillips has failed to
4 act in good faith in executing the written settlement agreement and allowing the parties to
5 proceed to file a joint motion to dismiss. Ordering Jeffrey Phillips to sign the settlement
6 agreement is highly likely to lead to his failure to do so and will only lead to future wasteful
7 proceedings before the Court. This Court has now held three settlement conferences and
8 then spent multiple additional hours in teleconferences attempting to convince Jeffrey to
9 cooperate with a settlement that he very clearly entered. These efforts have been to no
10 avail and have consistently been met by Jeffrey’s refusal to listen to logic and acknowledge
11 reality. Compelling him to sign a settlement agreement is not likely to be a successful path
12 forward. Accordingly, the Court has the following two options.
13 First, the Court could append the settlement agreement and its attachment A to any
14 judgment. See, e.g., Harris v. JT Hosp., Inc., No. 16CV4392-BLF, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
15 82255, at *8-15 (N.D. Cal. May 15, 2018). Although the settlement agreement attached to
16 the judgment in Harris had been executed by the parties here, everyone (except Jeffrey
17 Phillips)—Defendant, Plaintiff June Phillips, and this Court—agrees that the proposed
18 settlement agreement and its attachment accurately reflect the terms of the oral settlements
19 on the record. And although the parties did not specifically place the remaining terms in
20 the proposed settlement on the record, those terms are standard, uncontroversial provisions
21 included in nearly all written settlement agreements. These were precisely the
22 circumstances in Doi, where the district court enforced the written settlement agreement
23 that the plaintiff refused to sign after entering an oral agreement on the record. Doi v.
24 Halekulani Corp., 276 F.3d 1131, 1140 (9th Cir. 2002). The Ninth Circuit affirmed after
25 finding that the written settlement agreement contained no provisions that were contrary to
26 the oral settlement. Id.
27 Second, and in the alternative, the Court could enter judgment on the nine terms
28 placed on the record before this Court as enumerated on pages 2 through 4 of this R&R.
1 However, this route would result in injustice, as it would divest Defendant and Plaintiff
2 June Phillips of the benefits and full force of the written settlement agreement and would
3 reward Jeffrey Phillips for his unjustified obstinance. Given that the first option above has
4 been sanctioned by the Ninth Circuit, that option is seemingly far superior to entering
5 judgment on only the oral settlement.
6 D. Sanctions
7 Both sides have requested sanctions. Defendant seeks $3,150 “for the extraordinary
8 delay caused by Pro Se Plaintiff Jeffrey Philips” and $1,260 in attorneys’ fees for having
9 to bring the instant motion. (Doc. No. 29 at 2.) Seemingly mimicking Defendant’s efforts,
10 Plaintiff Jeffrey Phillips seeks $8,000 in sanctions and $8,000 for fees. Jeffrey’s requests
11 are patently baseless and untethered to reality, as his obstinance is the sole reason
12 Defendant was forced to spend so many needless hours attending additional settlement
13 talks and to bring a plainly meritorious motion to enforce the settlement. Jeffrey’s request
14 for sanctions is so ludicrous that it deserves no further discussion.
15 Defendant’s requests, however, are more than justified and warranted. This was not
16 a complicated case, but it was made unduly contentious and burdensome solely because of
17 Jeffrey Phillips’s manipulation and hijacking of the settlement process. He has at every
18 turn quibbled over minutiae, delayed, and frustrated the resolution of this case, and his
19 ultimate act of obstinance has been his steadfast refusal to sign a clearly accurate settlement
20 agreement and now his demand that that same agreement be nullified. But-for Jeffrey’s
21 conduct, this simple case should have—and would have—been terminated pursuant a joint
22 motion to dismiss months ago. Accordingly, Jeffrey’s conduct warrants sanctions and an
23 award of the modest attorneys’ fees Defendant requests. See Doi v. Kelekulani Corp., 276
24 F.3d 1131, 1138 (9th Cir. 2002) (affirming district court’s award of $1,000 in sanction for
25 the plaintiff’s “unreasonable failure to sign the written [settlement] agreement.”); Timmon
26 v. Invest Inself, Ltd. Liab. Co., No. 17-11035, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90632 (E.D. Mich.
27 May 31, 2018) (imposing sanction and attorneys’ fees and reducing both to judgment).
28
1 || The Court should find that defense counsel’s hourly rate and the time necessitated to bring
2 || the instant motion in response to Jeffrey’s Phillips’s antics are eminently reasonable.
3 IV. CONCLUSION
4 In sum, the parties here entered into a complete setthement agreement after arms-
5 ||length negotiations while represented by counsel.> They then clearly memorialized their
6 || understanding of—and consent to—those terms on the record before this Court. At that
7 point, they entered into a binding contract. This Court accordingly RECOMMENDS
8 ||enforcing the settlement, imposing sanctions against Plaintiff Jeffrey Phillips, awarding
9 || attorneys’ fees to Defendant, and entering final Judgment as recommended above.
10 IT IS ORDERED that no later than March 19, 2020 any party to this action may
11 || file written objections with the Court and serve a copy on all parties. The document should
12 || be captioned “Objections to Report and Recommendation.”
13 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that any reply to objections shall be filed with the
14 Court and served on all parties no later than March 31, 2020. The parties are advised that
15 failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to raise those
16 || objections on appeal. Martinez v. YIst, 951 F2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991).
17 IT IS SO ORDERED.
18 DATED: March 2, 2020
NS
20
Hon. William V. Gallo
21 United States Magistrate Judge
22
23
24
25
Sa
27 ||° Jeffrey Phillips was represented by counsel at the time he agreed to the non-monetary
0g terms. He was not represented by counsel when the monetary terms were placed on the
record, but those terms are not in dispute.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10080683. Public record. Not legal advice.