Demystifying Settlement Agreements

Demystifying Settlement Agreements
by Marcy Tiffany and Steve Wyner

"The drafting of a settlement agreement is critical to resolution of future details. The devil is in the details."- Pete Wright

As any lawyer or hearing officer will attest, it is almost always better to settle a case than to go to hearing. There are several reasons for this. First, it avoids the delay, expense, uncertainty and emotional strain associated with a hearing. Second, hearing officers are relatively limited with respect to the types of relief that they can order, while there is much more flexibility to craft a remedy in a settlement agreement.

However, there are few agreements that are more legally complex than a settlement agreement. While a well crafted settlement agreement can be very effective in resolving disputes and allowing the parties to move forward, a poorly crafted agreement can create new problems and sometimes give rise to even more litigation. The purpose of this article is to explain how a settlement agreement is structured, the meaning and purpose of the legal boilerplate that most settlement agreements contain, and to point out some common pitfalls to avoid.

Steve Wyner and Marcie Tiffany have provided a sample settlement agreement at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/art/wynerandtiffany.settlementagreement.pdf.

They have provided a companion article that explains the basis and importance of each clause in the Settlement Agreement. The link to the explanation about the Settlement Agreements is at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/art/wynerandtiffany.settlementagreementarticle.pdf.

For convenience, the different sections of the Sample Settlement Agreement discussed are indicated by bold capital letters, which correspond to the bold headings in the Sample Settlement Agreement. Each specific paragraph of the Sample Settlement Agreement is also referenced and explained. Be sure to print both the Sample Settlement Agreement and the article, and have both beside each other as you read and understand each section.

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About the Authors

Steven Wyner is a partner in the law firm of Wyner & Tiffany. In 1988, he began advocating for the special education needs of his oldest son, involving him in extensive legal research and analysis of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), the California Education Code, and federal and state law regulations promulgated under such laws. In 1993 he opened his own law office, focusing on special education law.

Mr. Wyner graduated with honors from King Hall Law School at the University of California, Davis in 1977, after which he clerked on the federal district court. He received an LL.M. from New York University in 1981. He practiced law at various law firms and as a sole practitioner, before forming the firm of Wyner & Tiffany in February 2003.

Marcy J.K. Tiffany is a partner in the law firm of Wyner & Tiffany. Ms. Tiffany graduated with honors from UCLA Law School in 1977, after which she clerked for both a federal district court and a federal appeals court judge. She subsequently practiced law with private firms, in various government positions and as corporate general counsel.

In 1999, she left private practice, in part to focus on her own special needs child who was struggling in middle school. Concerned by the lack of services for special needs students in her local community, she formed a support group for parents and ultimately began representing parents of special needs students.

Mr. Wyner and Ms. Tiffany have represented hundreds of children and their families in connection with various special education issues in administrative hearings, federal district court and the Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Wyner and Tiffany Cases and Settlements

Wyner & Tiffany, is a law firm located in Southern California that specializes in representing special needs children with respect to their educational needs and related civil rights litigation.

This California Firm was involved in the landmark case Draper v. Atlanta GA Schools in which a special education student, Jarron Draper, who was misdiagnosed as mentally retarded for over five years. URL's for more about Draper are on the Wrightslaw website at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/caselaw/07/GA.jdraper.atlanta.htm; http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/caselaw/08/11th.jdraper.atlanta.htm.

The firm is also known for a 6.7 Million Dollar Settlement Agreement against the Manhattan Beach Unified School District and the California Department of Education. URL's for more about Porter v. Manhattan Beach and the California DOE settlement, go to: http://www.wrightslaw.com/law/caselaw/2002/9th.porter.manhattan.bch.pdf; http://www.wrightslaw.com/news/05/porter.settlement.htm; http://www.harborhouselaw.com/law/plead/porter.court.petition.settlement.2005.0805.pdf.

In 2006, Ms. Tiffany and Mr. Wyner were awarded the prestigious California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award in the area of civil rights litigation, and both Mr. Wyner and Ms. Tiffany have been selected for inclusion in Southern California Super Lawyers, based on peer recognition and professional achievement.

Future Settlement Agreements

As we receive more Settlement Agreements from Wyner and Tiffany and other attorneys, we will post links to them on this webpage. (If you have one for our readers, please feel free to forward it to Wrightslaw. If names of parties are confidential, or the terms of the Settlement Agreement are confidential, please remove / redact / black out names of the parties and other identifying information.

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Last revised: 10/5/09

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