Sumerel v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

After Goodyear (defendant) was found liable in a products-liability suit, its co-counsel mistakenly calculated a settlement of pre-judgment interest by treating Goodyear as 100 percent liable rather than the jury's actual 36 percent and 48 percent fault allocations, overstating the amount owed by more than $550,000. Plaintiffs' co-counsel treated the erroneous calculation as an accepted "offer," and when Goodyear's counsel caught the mistake and tried to correct it, the plaintiffs moved to enforce the inflated figure as a binding settlement agreement; the trial court granted the motion, and Goodyear appealed.