In an amendment to the Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442, the Florida Supreme Court expressly excluded including non-monetary terms in a proposal for settlement filed pursuant to that Rule. By excluding the non-monetary terms, the Amendment precludes requiring the Plaintiff to execute a release upon acceptance. The Rule does include and permit the serving party to require a dismissal of all claims with prejudice upon acceptance and payment. Since there have been many changes and court rulings invalidating proposals due to the ambiguity of the terms of the release, many attorneys have not been including the condition of the execution of a release as a term of settlement for some time.
For those who have decided the benefit of a proposal for settlement is worth the potential downside of not having a release, but instead accepting a complete dismissal of the claim with prejudice, this will not be much of a change. However, for those who because of their requirements or exposures to extra-contractual damages and bad faith claims, there should be extra consideration on the decision whether to file a proposal for settlement. There are still strong reasons that a dismissal of the claim with prejudice is a beneficial resolution of the claim, even if there may be some potential additional exposure. The decision whether to file a proposal for settlement should be discussed with your counsel to make sure the benefits and possible ramifications are understood. This new amendment takes effect on July 1, 2022.
For additional information, please contact G. Jeffrey Vernis at GJVernis@National-Law.com