Lewis C. Nelson & Sons, Inc. v. Lynx Iron Corp.

Lewis C. Nelson & Sons, Inc. (plaintiff), the general contractor on a school construction project, filed a lawsuit in Fresno County Superior Court against Lynx Iron Corp. (Lynx) and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul) (jointly, defendants) seeking damages for delays in performance of a subcontract and recovery on a performance bond (the Fresno action). Thereafter, the parties signed a document that defendants believed was a complete settlement of the Fresno action and, consistent with that belief, defendants filed a motion in the trial court to enforce the settlement and enter judgment in their favor pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6. While that motion was pending, plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the Fresno action without prejudice. At approximately the same time, plaintiff filed the identical lawsuit in Kem County Superior Court (the Kem action). Defendants asserted their section 664.6 motion in the Kem action, but the trial court there denied the motion on the rationale that the Kem action was not pending at the time of the purported settlement. Frustrated by this turn of events, defendants returned to Fresno County Superior Court and…