Continental Casualty Company and Employers Surplus Lines Insurance Company v. Canadian Universal Insurance Co.

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

Stipulations are executed in the hope of minimizing litigation. They frequently achieve that end. Occasionally, however, they result merely in the escalation of hostilities, and serve as the basis for new disputes about the meaning of the agreement. In this appeal we consider just such consequences of a 1974 stipulation executed to end a 1971 personal injury suit. To bring that suit to a partial conclusion, an insurer of one of the principal defendants, pursuant to a stipulation with the other defendants, paid a substantial amount to the injured party in…