Kalain v. Smith

In Kalain v. Smith (1986), 25 Ohio St.3d 157, 25 OBR 201, 495 N.E.2d 572, syllabus, the Court explained, in the negative, what constitutes a "good faith effort to settle." That is, "a party has not 'failed to make a good faith effort to settle' under R.C. 1343.03(C) if he has: (1) fully cooperated in discovery proceedings; (2) rationally evaluated his risks and potential liability; (3) not attempted to unnecessarily delay any of the proceedingsl (4) made a good faith monetary settlement offer or responded in good faith to an offer from the other party." Id. at syllabus. Further, the Court held that "if a party has a good faith, objectively reasonable belief that he has no liability, he need not make a monetary settlement offer." Id. The Supreme Court found a plaintiff seeking pre-judgment interest must show: (1) liability was not reasonably in dispute; (2) the plaintiff made good-faith attempts to settle the case; (3) the defendant did not make good-faith efforts to resolve the case prior to trial. The trial court found here, the only issue was whether appellee made good faith efforts to settle the case prior to trial.