 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Associated Aviation Underwriters v. Wood9/29/2004
haps unknowable, when or if each and every individual plaintiff's claim could have been individually evaluated, as a practical matter.
3. There was significant debate up to and including the Morris Agreement in 1989 as to whether TCE could or could not cause the intervenors' claimed injuries. TAA/City were aware of and were provided with information on these issues.
4. At the time of the Morris Agreement, there was additional work to be done, not only by experts, but also by the parties through discovery to address the debate as to whether, and to what extent, any given individual intervenor ingested TCE. However, a significant amount of work had been done at that point in gathering general information about the issues presented in the case.
5. There was significant debate and contradictory evidence as well as additional work to be done by experts and additional discovery by the parties as to the source of the TCE ingested by any given intervenor.
6. Although the total costs of additional work by experts and discovery are unknown, it is estimated to be in the many millions of dollars.
Based on those findings, the trial court made the following conclusions of law:
The Court finds that a reasonably prudent person in the insured's position would not be required to await completion of discovery in this matter before entering into a Morris Agreement, given the information known by the insured at the time.
The Court further finds that a reasonably prudent person in the insured's position in this matter would not be required to separately evaluate each and every individual claimant and the settlement value... for each such individual claimant.....
At the time the Morris Agreement was being negotiated, the information that was available to the TAA and the City was sufficient to permit a reasonably prudent person in the TAA's and the City's position to calculate a reasonable settlement value for the claims asserted by the Valenzuela plaintiffs which are at issue here pursuant to Judge Velasco's January 4, 1999 minute entry.
The amounts set forth in the Morris Agreement for the claims of the 14 test Intervenors are in the range of amounts that would be agreed upon by a reasonably prudent person in the position of the TAA and the City of Tucson at the time of the settlement.
A reasonably prudent person in the position of the TAA and the City of Tucson at the time of the settlement would have settled on the terms of the Morris Agreement that was actually entered into in this case relating to the intervenors at issue here pursuant to Judge Velasco's January 4, 1999 minute entry.
In September 2002, the trial court issued a second, signed minute entry on the issue of reasonableness entitled, "Judgment for the Fourteen Intervenors Under Consideration in Phase Two." See 21, supra. In that judgment, the trial court ruled, inter alia, that the "settlements entered into by the [fourteen trial] Intervenors were reasonable."
B. Legal Framework
AAU challenges on several grounds the trial court's determination that the Morris agreement was reasonable and prudent in fact and amount. In addressing those challenges, the starting point for our analysis, again, is Morris. There, our supreme court stated an agreement between an insured (who is defended under a reservation of rights) and an injured third-party claimant renders an insurer liable only "to the extent that the [insured, or claimant as assignee] establishes that the settlement was reasonable and prudent under all the circumstances." 154 Ariz. at 120, 741 P.2d at 253. If an insured or claimant cannot
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|