28 Nov Green v. Conley

             This is a cost assessment in a personal injury action. The action was settled one day before the commencement of the trial. Ms. Green was initially pursuing a claim between $300,000 and $400,000 which included a claim for $136,000 for homemaking services. She settled her claim for $75,000 the day before trial. She swore an affidavit explaining that offer was accepted for health reasons. The plaintiff suffered from gestational diabetes and chose to accept the offer rather than go through the stress of trial which might potentially endanger the health of her unborn child and herself. This evidence becomes relevant to the issue of proportionality. It is my belief that an assessing officer should not rely exclusively on the settlement figure in determining proportionality of costs. Certainly, when most of the disbursements were incurred, counsel for Ms. Green did not think the case would settle for $75,000. Given that the case did not proceed to trial, it is not necessarily true that $75,000 is the true value of Ms. Green’s claim. It is the value that she was willing to accept for personal reasons....