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Luethke v. Suhr8/9/2002
greement. The district court overruled the motion. Over the appellants' objection, the court heard Luethke testify about his interactions with Wickenkamp regarding the settlement agreement. Luethke testified that although Wickenkamp originally anticipated receiving $84,000 or $64,000 for Luethke's case, she urged him to accept a settlement of $16,500 because they were not making headway with the other numbers. Luethke stated that the only time he authorized Wickenkamp to settle the case for him was when she presented him with a $64,000 offer; she, however, urged him to refuse the offer because she felt he could get more. Luethke testified that he never agreed to settle the case for $16,000—not during a meeting alone with Wickenkamp and not during a subsequent meeting at his mother's house with Wickenkamp, his mother, himself, and his uncle Norman Schmitt present.
The court received testimony from Schmitt, also over the appellants' objection, regarding the meeting with Wickenkamp and their settlement agreement discussions. Schmitt testified that at no time during Wickenkamp's representation of Luethke did Schmitt understand her to have the authority to settle Luethke's case for $16,000.
The district court's "Judgment on Defense of Settlement Agreement" concluded:
Upon consideration, I find in favor of plaintiff [Luethke]. Were we dealing with settlement negotiations between two non-lawyers, with one participant acting as the agent of yet another non-lawyer, I would rule there was a binding settlement agreement.
While I fully appreciate Mr. Plessman's good faith belief he had a settlement agreement and also appreciate that I am causing some difficulty in the practice of lawyers concluding they have a settlement before they have obtained their respective clients' express commitments, I believe the law of attorney/client relationships properly does not include apparent authority in counsel to settle claims in the absence of the client's express commitment to the settlement. Lawyer/client relationship law does not allow for operation of the same apparent authority doctrine that it does in matters other than settlements. I wish I could reach the opposite conclusion, but I believe the wiser public policy and the law requires the ruling I make in this particular instance.
The district court supplemented its original order, expressly determining and directing that pursuant to the terms of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-705(6) (Supp. 1999), recodified as Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1315(1) (Cum. Supp. 2000), there is no just reason for delay and that judgment should be entered as a final judgment on the appellants' claim seeking enforcement of the settlement agreement. See Keef v. State, 262 Neb. 622, 634 N.W.2d 751 (2001).
The appellants then filed an appeal of the judgment of the district court, and pursuant to our authority to regulate the caseloads of the appellate courts, we moved this appeal to our docket.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR
The appellants assign, consolidated and restated, that the district court erred in (1) failing to direct a verdict in the appellants' favor at the close of the appellants' evidence; (2) receiving into evidence, over objection, testimony pertaining to the settlement agreement; (3) misapplying, misinterpreting, and disregarding Nebraska agency law; and (4) concluding that attorneys do not have apparent authority to bind their clients to settlement agreements.
SCOPE OF REVIEW
When reviewing questions of law, an appellate court has an obligation to resolve the question independently of the conclusion reached by the trial court. In re Grand Jury of Douglas Cty., 263 Neb. 981, 644 N.W.
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