Huey v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
Huey v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
Opinion of the Court
Faye Huey (“Huey”) appeals the judgment of the Thirty Seventh Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caldwell, which compelled the settlement of her claim against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”). For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.
Facts
As the result of an August 1998 automobile accident, Huey filed suit against State Farm for personal injuries and medical expenses which allegedly arose out of that accident. In connection with that litigation, State Farm tendered $8,500 to Huey. Subsequently, Huey and her counsel
Discussion
As her single assignment of error, Huey argues that the trial court erred in determining that the oral agreement reached by the parties at the April 19, 2000 meeting constituted' a “meeting of the minds” between the parties, resulting in an enforceable compromise agreement.
The provisions of Article 3071 of the Louisiana Civil Code state:
A transaction or compromise is an agreement between two or more persons, who, for preventing or putting an end to a lawsuit, adjust their differences by mutual consent, in the manner which they agree on, and which every one of them prefers to the hope of gaining, balanced by the danger of losing.
This contract must be either reduced into writing or recited in open court and capable of being transcribed from the record of the proceeding. The agreement recited in open court confers upon each of them the right of judicially enforcing its performance, although its substance may thereafter be written in a more convenient form. (Emphasis original.)
|3In Lavan v. Nowell, 98-0284 (La.04/24/98), 708 So.2d 1052, the Louisiana Supreme Court concluded that pursuant to Article 3071, “[A] compromise either must be reduced to writing and signed by the parties or their agents, or must be recited in open court and be capable of transcription from the record of the proceeding .... ” See also, Sullivan v. Sullivan, 95-2122 (La.04/08/96), 671 So.2d 315; Lizama v. Williams, 99-1040 (La.App. 5th Cir.03/22/00), 759 So.2d 865; Brasseaux v. Allstate Ins. Co., 97-0526 (La.App. 1st Cir.04/08/98), 710 So.2d 826; Faulk v. Morvant, 93-1644 (La.App.3d Cir.11/16/94), 649 So.2d 700, writ denied, 94 3082 (La.02/09/95), 650 So.2d 245.
Application of the holding in Lavan to the facts of the instant case leads inevitably to the conclusion that the verbal agreement herein was not enforceable, as that agreement was never reduced to writing and signed by the parties. In the instant case, there is no writing which serves to satisfy La. C.C. art. 3071; in fact, there is no writing of any kind. Furthermore, whatever agreement was previously reached by the parties at their April 19, 2000 meeting was never recited in open court and capable of being transcribed from the record of the proceeding. The in-court admissions of Huey at the hearing on State Farm’s motion fall short of this requirement. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court erred in holding that there existed a valid and enforceable compromise agreement between Huey and State Farm.
| Conclusion
For the reasons set forth above, the trial court’s judgment is reversed at appellee’s
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
. Huey, at the time, was represented by other counsel.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.