National Property Holdings, L.P. v. Westergren

This dispute involves a mediated settlement agreement, an oral side agreement, and a subsequent written release. A pivotal issue is whether Gordon Westergren released his claims for breach of the oral side agreement or whether, as he insists and the jury found, he was fraudulently induced into signing the release. On that issue, we conclude that Westergren’s fraudulent inducement defense must fail as a matter of law because the record conclusively establishes that he had a reasonable opportunity to read the release before he signed it and elected not to do so. We also conclude that the oral…