Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
Obviously first prize is a negotiated settlement agreement where each party is responsible for their own legal costs

My concern arising from the case above is MZEly appears to have been seeking a settlement, but did not know what to do at that point to press vigorously for a settlement and ensure a judgement was not taken against him.
The irony is that a settlement which is an offer to pay can be made directly to plaintiff’s attorney right up to the point before judgment is actually granted i.e. they served summons, judicial process is already underway. Even here, it would have been in everyone’s best interest to accommodate any request to make payment. From what I can deduce there are many defendants who reached a settlement with the plaintiff while the matter was already in the courts hands. The plaintiff should see it as you basically want to pay. It’s possible that the attorneys in question felt that a judgment debt with legal costs will work better for them as they aware that the defendant can pay. So why pay less and when you can pay so much more with the legal costs.