Sadighi v. Daghighfekr

Decision Date04 October 1999
Docket NumberNo. Civ.A. 298-2648-18.,Civ.A. 298-2648-18.
Citation66 F.Supp.2d 752
PartiesAhmad SADIGHI, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ali DAGHIGHFEKR, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of South Carolina

Mark Andrew Mason, The Mason Law Firm, PA, Mt. Pleasant, SC, Anthony E. Forsberg, The Mason Law Firm, Mt. Pleasant, SC, for plaintiffs.

John Allen Massalon, Wills & Massalon LLC, Charleston, SC, John R. Bush, Tampa, FL, for defendants.

ORDER

NORTON, District Judge.

This action is before the court on Plaintiffs' Motion to Enforce the Settlement Agreement and for Immediate Entry of Judgment Against Defendants.

I. BACKGROUND

On September 11, 1998, Plaintiffs filed their Complaint against twenty-three Defendants, alleging that Defendants were unlawfully conducting an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations chapter of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, as amended, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-68 ("RICO"). In addition, Plaintiffs asserted twenty-one other causes of action against Defendants: breach of contract, breach of contract with fraudulent intent, misappropriation of corporate opportunity, statutory wage act violations, tortious interference with contract, quantum meruit, unjust enrichment, rescission of alleged release, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, civil conspiracy, Title VII violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unfair trade practices. On January 22, 1999, this court granted in part and denied in part Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Complaint.

After this court denied Defendants' Motion for Reconsideration of its Order and after months of extensive discovery, the parties entered settlement negotiations. On April 29, 1999, Defendants' local counsel, John A. Massalon, delivered a detailed letter to Plaintiffs' local counsel signed by Mr. Massalon and Mr. Feker,1 indicating the latter's "agreement to settle" on the terms enumerated in the letter. The letter set forth the exact amount and date of payments to be made by Defendants to Plaintiffs in settlement of the Plaintiffs' claims. The letter also set forth provisions regarding the security for settlement payments, the terms of the release, a denial of liability by Defendants, and a provision that Defendants had no duty to apportion the settlement proceeds among the Plaintiffs. The letter also stated that Plaintiffs represented they were the sole parties to receive the settlement money, that there existed no lien or subrogation interest in the settlement proceeds, and it provided that Plaintiffs would indemnify Defendants from the same. Moreover, the letter provided that the "settlement [was] final and binding among the Plaintiffs and the Defendants regardless of any subsequent action by any third party arising from this suit." (Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement) The letter proceeded to go into great detail regarding the cancellation of a lis pendens Plaintiffs had filed, the preparation of letters to Defendants' business associates who had become aware of the suit, as well as the preparation of stipulations striking certain allegations from the Complaint in connection with the dismissal of the action. The letter went on to provide for the filing of a petition to seal the record, and it stated that "this settlement is final and binding on all parties regardless of the manner in which the court rules on that petition." (Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement) The letter required Defendants to provide letters of reference for Plaintiffs Riggins and NeSmith. The parties had reached an agreement as to the exact wording of those reference letters, which was set out in an attachment to the April 29, 1999 letter. The letter also provided that each party would bear its own attorney's fees and costs. Indeed, the letter was so detailed regarding the specifies of the settlement agreement that it even resolved a dispute between the parties relating to a computer Defendants purchased for Plaintiff Sadighi. The body of the settlement letter concluded with the following paragraph:

This letter is intended to memorialize the basic framework of an agreement and it is not intended as a final expression of the terms of the settlement. The exact terms will be expressed in a more comprehensive Settlement Agreement. However, if this letter does not reflect the broad parameters of our agreement, please contact me. Otherwise, please indicate your acceptance of the foregoing terms on behalf of the Plaintiffs by signing in the space below and returning the same to me by facsimile.

(Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement) The April 29, 1999 letter closed with the following conspicuous sentences in all capital letters directly above the signature lines.

ON BEHALF OF THE PLAINTIFFS, I AGREE TO THE FOREGOING TERMS IN FULL, FINAL AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF THE PENDING CLAIMS IN THIS MATTER

                  ______________________     ________
                  Mark A. Mason, Esquire     Date
                

ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANTS, I AGREE TO THE FOREGOING TERMS IN FULL, FINAL AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF THE PENDING CLAIMS IN THIS MATTER

                  _______________________    ________
                  Mr. Allan Feker            Date
                

At the time the April 29, 1999 letter was sent to Mr. Mason, it was signed by Mr. Massalon and Mr. Feker.

On May 4, 1999, on behalf of Plaintiffs, Mr. Mason executed the April 29, 1999 letter and returned it to Defendants' counsel with a cover letter stating that Plaintiffs' counsel's signature on behalf of Plaintiffs created a "mutually binding and enforceable settlement of this case." (Exhibit 2 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement) The cover letter went on to state that the parties would

meet with Judge Norton in his chambers on Friday, May 7, 1999 at 9:30 a.m. for the purpose of finding out how Judge Norton wants to administratively handle the enforcement of the settlement if the need should arise. This will allow Plaintiffs to choose between judicial enforcement of the settlement or the $1,000,000 mortgage as the alternate security for the settlement as set forth in Paragraph 2 of your letter.

(Exhibit 2 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement)

On Friday May 7, 1999, the parties appeared in chambers. Present at the inchambers meeting were the undersigned, judicial law clerk Rodney Patton, attorneys Mark A. Mason and Anthony E. Forsberg on behalf of Plaintiffs, and attorney John A. Massalon on behalf of Defendants. At this meeting, the court was informed that the case had been settled. The parties inquired whether the court would retain jurisdiction over the case until October 15, 1999 for the purpose of enforcing the settlement agreement and, in particular, the installment payments called for by the parties' settlement agreement, the last of which was due October 1, 1999. At this in-chambers meeting, the court advised the parties that it would retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. The court indicated that in connection with the parties' settlement agreement, a Ruben order should be prepared by the parties and submitted to the court. The requested Ruben order was to provide that the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. In fact, the parties had already reached agreement on this point prior to the in-chambers meeting, and one of the purposes of the meeting was to ensure that the court would exercise its discretion to retain jurisdiction to enforce the parties' settlement agreement. In this regard, the parties' settlement agreement provided:

the Defendants will consent to the continuing jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, to enforce the settlement. The parties will ask Judge Norton to enter a Ruben order removing the case from the active roster pending the entry of a final order of dismissal with prejudice no later than October 15, 1999. In the event that the Defendants fail to timely pay any portion of the settlement, Plaintiffs can apply to Judge Norton for the entry of judgment against the Defendants for the balance of the settlement proceeds, plus attorney's fees and costs incurred in enforcing the settlement. However, under no circumstances will Plaintiffs be entitled to reopen the case or seek damages in excess of the balance of the settlement funds and collection costs.

(Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs' Memo. in Support of Motion to Enforce Settlement) After the meeting, all discovery in the case ceased. Deadlines passed. And no further settlement negotiations took place between the parties.

On June 16, 1999, Plaintiffs' counsel forwarded to Defendants' counsel the formal settlement documents called for by the April 29, 1999 letter. The formal Settlement Agreement consisted of the following documents: the agreed Confidential Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release of All Claims; the agreed reference letters for Plaintiffs Riggins and NeSmith, the agreed Cancellation of Lis Pendens, the agreed Joint Stipulations Striking Certain Allegations from Plaintiffs' Complaint, the agreed Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice of Plaintiffs' Civil RICO Claims, the agreed Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice and proposed Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, the agreed Joint Motion to Seal the Record and proposed Consent Order Sealing Record, and an Order of Dismissal with Prejudice of the Sealy Defendants. In all, the formal settlement documents called for by the parties' settlement agreement totaled forty-seven pages.

On June 25, 1999, John R. Bush, Defendants' Florida counsel, wrote to Plaintiffs' local counsel and informed him that Allan Feker "has directed me to advise you that he has elected to discontinue settlement negotiations. He has reviewed the package that you provided last week, and...

To continue reading

Request your trial
7 cases
  • Silicon Image, Inc. v. Genesis Microchip, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
    • July 15, 2003
    ...rule in the usual sources — the best-reasoned decisions in the general common law." Gamewell Mfg., Inc., 715 F.2d at 115. 66 F.Supp.2d 752, 759 n. 2 (D.S.C.1999) (applying forum law to the settlement of all To the extent that state law does inform the contract construction principles applic......
  • Akers v. Minn. Life Ins. Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia
    • August 4, 2014
    ...Life claim. Tr. –––, –––, –––, –––.III. Conclusions of Law “A settlement agreement is considered to be a contract.” Sadighi v. Daghighfekr, 66 F.Supp.2d 752, 759 (D.S.C.1999) (citing United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223, 238, 95 S.Ct. 926, 43 L.Ed.2d 148 (1975) ). “[R]e......
  • Widdicombe v. Tucker-Cales
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • October 20, 2005
    ...filed these pleadings without her signature, a party is generally bound by stipulations made by their counsel. See Sadighi v. Daghighfekr, 66 F.Supp.2d 752, 761 (D.S.C.1999) (citing Hall v. Benefit Ass'n of Ry. Employees, 164 S.C. 80, 83, 161 S.E. 867, 868 (1932)) ("The parties to a suit ar......
  • Phillips & Jordan, Inc. v. McCarthy Improvement Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina
    • September 29, 2020
    ...(S.C. 1981), overruled on other grounds by Lester v. Dawson, 491 S.E.2d 240, reh'g den. (Oct. 10, 1997); see also Sadighi v. Daghighfekr, 66 F. Supp. 2d 752 (D.S.C. 1999) ("Offer and acceptance can be inferred from the parties' course of conduct.") 166. If one of the parties has not agreed,......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT