Supreme Court of California

In a consolidated wrongful death action wherein one defendant settled with the decedent's wife and his adult daughter for an unapportioned lump sum of $1.1 million, and two nonsettling defendants ultimately prevailed at trial, a judgment allocating the settlement proceeds 90%/10% in favor of the daughter is reversed and remanded where: 1) the trial court did not violate statutory law or act in excess of jurisdiction in undertaking to apportion the settlement proceeds; 2) the court was not required to allocate the proceeds based solely on the evidence admitted at the trial against the nonsettling defendants or on the perceived contribution that each heir's damages claim supposedly made to the settlement amount; but 3) the record did not support a finding that the marriage between the decedent and his wife was about to end.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/05/2007
• Published 07/05/2007

Judges

• BAXTER, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Davis & Heubeck, Law Offices of John C. Heubeck and John C. Heubeck, El Segundo, for Plaintiff and Appellant and for Defendant and Appellant., Law Offices of Ronald E. Harrington, G. David Tenenbaum and Ronald E. Harrington, Newport Beach, for Plaintiff and Respondent and for Defendant and Respondent.