Willie Dobson v. D.R. Camden

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This case raises the interesting and knotty question of what credit, if any, should be given a nonsettling section 1983 defendant because of a pretrial settlement between the plaintiff and a codefendant joint tortfeasor. The issue is complicated in this case by the facts that the settling tortfeasor was also being sued for other torts and that the amount of the settlement was not segregated by claim. We hold that the dual policies of section 1983, compensation and deterrence, allow credit for a settlement by a joint tortfeasor in proportion to the amount of the injury…