Mills

In this dispute about potato sizers, we must reverse because the trial court granted relief in a case which had been dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a settlement. Instead of moving to set aside the dismissal first, a party chose for economic reasons to move directly for enforcement of the settlement, although there was no case pending in which such a motion could be made. Now that party will have to try again to obtain a remedy for the purported settlement breaches. This case thus proves the adage: “Penny wise, pound foolish.” (Bartlett, Familiar Quotations (16th ed. 1992) p. 234, col. 1 [attrib. to Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy].)

Hagan Engineering, Inc. (Hagan) sued former employees and their business (collectively, Mills) in San Joaquin County Superior Court for misappropriation of trade secrets and related claims; Mills sued Hagan in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleging ERISA violations. The parties then entered into a detailed written global settlement which called for dismissal of both lawsuits with prejudice. It also provided a mechanism by which Hagan could monitor Mills’s business activities for…