Short v. Petty

OPINION

BARKER, Judge.

¶ 1 Defendants made a joint offer of judgment under Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 68 (“Rule 68”) to plaintiffs, a husband and wife. The wife’s claim was for personal injuries and her husband had a derivative claim for loss of consortium. Plaintiffs rejected the joint offer of $100,000 and recovered only $20,000 in a joint verdict. The trial court refused to impose sanctions and found that a joint offer of judgment must be apportioned to comply with Rule 68. For the reasons that follow, we find apportionment unnecessary in this case and reverse the judgment of the trial…