Abbott Ford Inc. V. Superior Court Of Los Angeles County

The issue presented here is whether a "sliding scale recovery agreement,"*fn1 entered into by plaintiffs and one of several defendants in a personal injury action, represents a "good faith" settlement within the meaning of sections 877 and 877.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure,*fn2 so as to relieve the settling defendant of any liability for contribution or equitable comparative indemnity to other defendants in the action. The trial court concluded that the agreement in question was not a good faith settlement and denied the settling defendant's motion to bar cross-complaints by the remaining defendants. The settling defendant then sought review by writ of mandate, and ultimately the Court of Appeal -- after remand by this court -- concluded that while the "good faith" of such a sliding  scale agreement must properly be measured by the standard set forth in our recent decision in Tech-Bilt, Inc. v. Woodward-Clyde & Associates (1985) 38 Cal. 3d 488 [213 Cal. Rptr. 256, 698 P.2d 159], the agreement at issue here satisfied that standard as a matter of law. We granted review to consider the question of the appropriate application of the statutory "good faith" requirement in the context of sliding scale agreements.