Barlow v. Finegan

Summary

The Delaware Supreme Court held that a tort settlement involving minors is not binding without prior court approval under 12 Del. C. § 3926 and Superior Court Civil Rule 133. The court reversed and remanded because the Superior Court improperly focused on enforcing the parties’ settlement allocation rather than independently determining, on a clean slate, whether the settlement was fair and should be approved.

Holdings

1. A settlement of a tort claim involving a minor or otherwise legally disabled litigant must receive prior court authorization to be binding; an attorney, receiver, or guardian cannot rely solely on the authority to settle the claim.
2. The Superior Court must independently determine whether to approve or reject a minor's settlement, beginning with a clean slate; it may not treat the hearing as an enforcement proceeding or approve a negotiated allocation despite reservations about the settlement's fairness.
3. Settlement approval requires two distinct steps: filing a petition to authorize the settlement and presenting medical or other satisfactory evidence at an open-court hearing, with the minor present unless excused.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Superior Court properly approved a minor's tort settlement by evaluating the fairness of the negotiated apportionment rather than independently determining, from a clean slate, whether the settlement should be approved.
2. Whether 12 Del. C. § 3926 and Superior Court Civil Rule 133 require prior court authorization and an evidentiary hearing before a settlement involving a minor or legally disabled person becomes binding.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded