Gackstetter v. Frawley

In Gackstetter v. Frawley (2006) 135 Cal.App.4th 1257, the defendants unsuccessfully raised a defense of good faith settlement under Code of Civil Procedure section 877.6 in demurrers and a motion for summary judgment. After trial, defendants appealed the judgment and argued the trial court erred in denying its summary judgment motion. Gackstetter accepted Waller's conclusion (Waller v. TJD, Inc. (1993) 12 Cal.App.4th 830) that a reviewing court will not consider whether a trial court erred in denying a summary judgment motion based on triable issues of fact following a full trial of those same issues. (Id. at 1268.) The court also cited with approval a treatise which reasoned: "'A decision based on less evidence (i.e., the evidence presented on the summary judgment motion) should not prevail over a decision based on more evidence (i.e., the evidence presented at trial).'" (Id. at p. 1269.) Gackstetter nonetheless reviewed the trial court's denial of summary judgment because the good faith issue was not based on disputed facts which were resolved at a full trial. The court recognized the good faith settlement issue could have been raised in a number of different ways, and defendants had not forfeited review merely because the defendants chose summary judgment as a vehicle to assert their good faith settlement defense. (Gackstetter, at p. 1269.)