Bowers v. Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc

Bowers v. Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc. (2012) 206 Cal.App.4th 724, was an action for defamation and related business torts where the parties entered into a written settlement to "participate in a full day mediation" and "if, at the end of that mediation, they . . . have failed to reach an agreement, the Plaintiffs . . . shall provide to the mediator their last and final demand, . . . and the Defendants . . . shall provide to the mediator their last and final offer . . . . The mediator shall then be empowered to set the amount of the judgment . . . by choosing either Plaintiffs' demand or Defendants' offer, such binding mediator judgment to then be entered as a legally enforceable judgment . . . ." (Id. at p. 730.) The Court of Appeal rejected a claim the parties' settlement was void for uncertainty. "The parties in this case elaborated on what they meant by the alternative dispute resolution method they chose," and "thus, . . . the agreement in this case is sufficiently certain to be specifically enforceable." (Id. at p. 736.)