Polizzi

BACKGROUND

This appeal is from the second of two lawsuits by plaintiff against defendants. In the first, the parties, along with Joseph Polizzi and Rosalia Polizzi, entered into a written settlement agreement that resulted in plaintiff‟s dismissal with prejudice of her claims against defendants. Pursuant to the agreement, defendants Wade Diebner and Khrista Deibner (collectively, Diebners) were required to pay plaintiff a total of $80,000, with

1 $40,000 paid on or before March 15, 2011, and $5,000 per month for eight months, until November 15, 2011. The Diebners did not make the last two months‟ payments to plaintiff, purportedly because plaintiff had defamed them. Instead, they offered to pay the remaining $10,000 conditioned on the settlement agreement‟s amendment to make clear all claims between plaintiff and the Diebners were resolved because of “the way the settlement agreement is drafted and the disputed issues that remain between the Diebners and Joe and Rose Polizzi.” Rather than accept this conditional offer, plaintiff sued defendants in a second action in November 2011. She alleged defendants had participated in the pilfering of investment funds from Polizzi, for…