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Alcon Laboratories3/14/2005
The legal conflict between Will Vision & Laser Centers and Alcon Laboratories began with a dispute over two laser surgery systems leased by Will Vision from Alcon. Will Vision failed to make contractual payments to Alcon for the laser surgery systems, and Alcon sued. The two parties settled the lawsuit, with Will Vision agreeing to pay Alcon a sum by monthly payments. The settlement agreement provided that if Will Vision defaulted on its payments to Alcon, Alcon would serve a summons and complaint and then file a stipulated judgment three days later. Will Vision defaulted, and the trial court entered the stipulated judgment. Will Vision argues that a reference in the summons to a 20-day period for responding to the complaint supersedes the settlement agreement. Will Vision also moved under CR 60(b)(4) to vacate the judgment on the ground that the settlement agreement was fraudulently induced by Alcon's presettlement statements about its data on adverse patient outcomes. The trial court denied the motion. Will Vision appeals the entry of the stipulated judgment and the denial of its CR 60(b)(4) motion.
We affirm the entry of the stipulated judgment, as the explicit language of the settlement agreement and the attachment of a copy of the settlement agreement to the complaint provided Will Vision with sufficient notice that the stipulated judgment would be entered pursuant to that agreement. We also affirm the trial court's denial of Will Vision's CR 60(b)(4) motion. Communications from Will Vision's principal to Alcon demonstrate that Will Vision did not rely on Alcon's presettlement statements in agreeing to the settlement, and the adversarial relationship between Will Vision and Alcon makes any reliance by Will Vision on Alcon's statements unreasonable as a matter of law.
FACTS
Brian R. Will, M.D. ('Dr. Will') is the principal of Will Vision & Laser Centers, P.C., a Washington corporation. In 1999, Will Vision leased a laser surgery system from a predecessor of Alcon Laboratories. It leased a second laser surgery system from Alcon's predecessor a year later. Under the leasing agreements, Will Vision was supposed to pay a per procedure fee for a minimum number of annual procedures.
According to Dr. Will, a high number of laser surgery procedures resulted in adverse patient outcomes, and many patients had to undergo repeated surgeries ('enhancements'). Dr. Will believed that a defect in engineering techniques for the systems caused the problems. He sent Robert Stevens, vice president for research and development at Alcon, a 39-page letter outlining his theory that field service engineering techniques were flawed. In the meantime, Will Vision failed to make payments to Alcon for the use of the systems.
In October 2002, Jerry G. Bradford, legal counsel for Alcon, informed Dr. Will that Alcon had 'diligently sought out and analyzed all available data that would show' support for Dr. Will's theory. Bradford also told Dr. Will that Alcon could not find any correlation between factors identified by Dr. Will and the results of laser surgery procedures with the laser surgery system. Bradford warned Dr. Will that Alcon considered Will Vision to be in default on the leases and gave Will Vision 20 days to cure the default.
Later that month, Dr. Will sent an e-mail to Nestle, Alcon's parent company, to warn that 'significant product liability issues' exist with respect to the laser surgery systems. He stated that Alcon personnel 'fail to appreciate the gravity of the situation and the potential for mutual financial destruction if this matter is not resolved quickly and comprehensively.' He further stated, '{O}ur attempts to bring this m
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