James R. Frey v. Edward Snelgrove

1. When a plaintiff enters into a Pierringer-type release, settling his claims with some defendants and agreeing to pay any cross-claims of the non-settling defendant, the trial court should dismiss the settling defendants from the lawsuit, but their negligence should be submitted to the jury. However, under the facts of this case, the non-settling defendant is precluded from successfully claiming that the trial court erred in not dismissing the settling defendants since the non-settling defendant refused to dismiss its cross-claims with prejudice against the settling defendants.