DeGroat

The plaintiffs brought suit against defendants alleging personal injury. At the conclusion of the pretrial settlement conference, the judge stated “. . . there is a disposition of the proceedings, as I understand it, as follows:

Following the settlement conference, plaintiffs’ counsel attempted to compromise the Medi-Cal lien with a representative of the state. The state was willing to take $750 in satisfaction of the lien provided that plaintiffs’ counsel agreed to reduce his attorney- fees by $150. It appears that the $750 figure was about $100 above the 50 percent compromise sought. The $750 figure and the $150 reduction of fees proposed by the state were both unacceptable to plaintiffs.

On December 18, 1980, counsel for plaintiffs and the state met with the settlement judge. They informed the court that no settlement had been reached and the case was taken off calendar.

Plaintiffs’ counsel wrote counsel for defendant Ingles that the settlement had “fallen through.” Ingles’ counsel replied, “[y]ou have informed us that the $750 figure is completely unacceptable to your clients. . . . Therefore it appears as though the settlement which [the court] and the parties…