AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• The Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Defendant Nicholas Torres and Young America Insurance Company. The case reached a point where the Defendant Torres accepted an offer of settlement from the Plaintiff, pursuant to Rule 1-068 NMRA, agreeing to pay $14,500.17. Despite this agreement, a dispute arose regarding the form of judgment to be entered by the district court, with the Plaintiff contending that a judgment against Torres should be entered, while the court opted for a dismissal with prejudice.

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Plaintiff: Argued that the district court erred by entering an order of dismissal with prejudice instead of entering judgment against Defendant Torres following his acceptance of the settlement offer.
• Defendant Torres and Young America Insurance Company: [Not applicable or not found]

Legal Issues

• Whether the district court erred in entering an order of dismissal with prejudice instead of entering judgment against Defendant Torres following his acceptance of Plaintiff’s offer of settlement.

Disposition

• The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal.

Reasons

• The Court, led by Chief Judge Michael E. Vigil with Judges James J. Wechsler and Stephen G. French concurring, found the appeal to be moot. The Court reasoned that since the agreed-upon settlement amount was tendered to the Plaintiff prior to the entry of judgment, the dispute over the form of judgment did not affect the settlement amount received by the Plaintiff, rendering the appeal moot (paras 1-3). The Plaintiff contended that the form of judgment was crucial for a claim against Young America Insurance Company for unfair practices, citing Hovet v. Allstate Insurance Co. However, the Court was not persuaded that the form of judgment entered had any bearing on such a claim, noting that settling a case without a judicial determination of liability waives any claims under the Insurance Code for unfair settlement practices. The Court also noted the Plaintiff's failure to provide authority supporting the argument that a judgment entered pursuant to a Rule 1-068 offer of settlement is akin to a judicial determination of liability (paras 4-6).