Opinion
D041138.
7-8-2003
LINDA PATTERSON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CAL SOFT WATER SERVICE, INC., Defendant and Appellant, AMERICAN WATER INVESTMENTS, LLC et al., Defendants and Respondents.
The parties have stipulated the judgment be reversed and the matter remanded to the superior court to vacate the judgment and to dismiss the action with prejudice; to have the remittitur issue immediately; and the parties to bear their own costs on appeal.
In Neary v. Regents of the University of California (1992) 3 Cal.4th 273, 284, 834 P.2d 119, the Supreme Court held that "when the parties to an action agree to settle their dispute and as part of their settlement stipulate to a reversal of the trial court judgment, the Court of Appeal should grant their request for the stipulated reversal absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances that warrant an exception to this general rule. Any determination that such circumstances exist must be made on a case-by-case basis."
Effective January 1, 2000, the Legislature modified the appellate courts power to order a stipulated reversal. Code of Civil Procedure section 128, subdivision (a)(8), provides that before the court may accept and confirm the stipulated reversal or vacation of a judgment it must find: "(A) There is no reasonable possibility that the interests of nonparties or the public will be adversely affected by the reversal"; and "(B) The reasons of the parties for requesting reversal outweigh the erosion of public trust that may result from the nullification of a judgment and the risk that the availability of stipulated reversal will reduce the incentive for pretrial settlement."
Here, the parties jointly request a stipulated reversal of the judgment to facilitate settlement of this matter. Both parties assert the judgment below was the result of various prejudicial errors. Patterson contends the trial court prejudicially erred by granting summary judgment in favor of defendants on her cause of action for fraud. Cal Soft contends the trial court prejudicially erred by interpreting a provision of the underlying employment contract as a matter of law in favor of Patterson, rather than Cal Soft or as a question of fact for the jury to resolve.
Cal Soft hired Patterson pursuant to a written contract and terminated her employment four months later. She sued Cal Soft for fraud, breach of contact and related claims. Essentially, she asserted that Cal Soft could not terminate her employment pursuant to the written employment contract without cause for at least two years and that it did not have the requisite "cause" to terminate her employment. Cal Soft responded that the written contract permitted it to terminate her employment without cause on payment of a specified amount of severance pay and that in any event it did have sufficient cause to terminate her employment. The trial court granted Cal Softs motion for summary judgment as to Pattersons fraud cause of action. The matter proceeded to trial and, after the trial court ruled as a matter of law that Pattersons employment could only be terminated for cause, the jury returned a verdict that Cal Soft did not have cause to terminate her employment and awarded her $ 55,808 in damages. Both parties have appealed.
We agree with counsel that the Code of Civil Procedure section 128, subdivision (a)(8) requirements are satisfied here. This case involves a judgment for breach of an employment contract, the stipulated reversal of which will not adversely affect the interests of nonparties or the public. All parties agree that there are sound legal grounds for reversal. Consequently, a stipulated reversal will not erode the public trust or reduce the incentive for pretrial settlement. Facilitating private settlement under these circumstances complies with the statutory requirements.
DISPOSITION
The judgment is reversed. The superior court is directed to vacate and set aside the judgment and dismiss the action with prejudice. The remittitur is to issue immediately. The parties shall bear their own costs on appeal.
WE CONCUR: NARES, Acting P. J., and OROURKE, J.