Steller v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., B219935

Enforcement of settlement agreement in plaintiff's suit agianst former employer for disability discrimination and workers' compensation claims. 

Steller v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., B219935, concnerned a challenge to the trial court's interpretation of the parties' settlement agreement as encompassing both plaintiff's civil action for disability discrimination and a workers' compensation action, in enforcing the settlement agreement, in plaintiff's civil action for disability discrimination against her former employer.

In affirming the judgment, the court held that neither the settlement agreement nor the judgment expressly require that settlement of the workers' compensation claim be approved by the WCAB, but the judgment is construed as requiring the WCAB's subsequent approval.  Further, although the trial court should have considered extrinsic evidence of the parties' intent because the settlement agreement was ambiguous, the error was harmless as the trial court would have enforced the settlement even if it had considered the extrinsic evidence.

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Read the California Court of Appeals for the Fourth District's Decision in Steller v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., B219935