Glazer v. Bradford

The decision in this case is controlled by the established principle of Georgia law that a client is bound by his attorney's agreement to settle a lawsuit, even though the attorney may not have had express authority to settle, if the opposing party was unaware of any limitation on the attorney's apparent authority. Thus, in this suit for brokerage commissions, the district court correctly entered summary judgment for defendants who had reached an agreed settlement with plaintiff's attorney, even though there was a substantial factual issue as to whether the plaintiff had authorized his attorney to make that settlement. The undisputed facts show that some months after suit was filed, plaintiff directed his counsel by telephone to ""see what you can do to effect a settlement"" in an action involving disputed brokerage commissions and a counterclaim for defamation. Plaintiff did not, however, spell out the precise terms of settlement which would have been acceptable to him. His lawyer contacted the attorneys for the various defendants, offering to settle the actions with mutual releases of all claims and counterclaims. Defendants' counsel agreed, mutual releases and dismissal documents were prepared, and the district court dismissed the actions.