Irvine

Elodie Irvine appeals from a judgment of the trial court dismissing her malpractice action against the Regents of the University of California, the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Medical Center, and individuals in UCI’s liver and kidney transplant program, including Doctors David Imagawa, Muhammad Sheikh, and Sean Cao. Plaintiff contends the trial court erred in denying her motion to vacate a settlement agreement she reached in private mediation with defendants. She asserts the agreement was conditioned on her signing a subsequent release, which she declined to do, and that duress and fraud undercut the agreement.

We do not reach the merits of plaintiff’s arguments because the trial court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s action after she disputed that a final, binding settlement had been reached. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand with instructions to restore the case to the civil active list.

I

Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiff suffered from end-stage liver disease and polycystic liver and kidney disease. In June 1998, the UCI Division of Transplantation admitted plaintiff to its organ transplantation program. After waiting more than four…