David I. Brody quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article on judicial estoppel and enforcement of settlement agreements

David I. Brody, partner in the firm’s Employment Department, was quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article on June 10, 2020. The article, “Plaintiff officer’s actions ‘repudiated’ settlement, Appeals Court finds,” covers a recent Appeals Court ruling that a plaintiff police officer could not enforce an agreement settling an employment discrimination suit filed in federal court because she waited nearly a year to sign the agreement and meanwhile pursued claims barred by its terms.

Read the full article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (subscriber content).

From the article:

“The case provides important lessons on drafting good settlement agreements, documenting negotiations, and not ‘getting greedy,’ according to Boston business and employment litigator David I. Brody.

‘I think everybody [got greedy] in this case,’ Brody said, adding that he thought the plaintiff had a good case for judicial estoppel.

‘What the town did fits neatly into the paradigm of judicial estoppel,’ Brody said. ‘They took a position in front of a court and prevailed on that position. Nine times out of 10 that will stop somebody from taking a contrary position in a subsequent proceeding. This was that 10th case.’

According to Brody, the result was driven by the specific facts of the case, which painted a picture of the plaintiff going ‘too far.

‘The employee took the opportunity to litigate the very claims she was waiving [as part of the settlement],’ Brody said. ‘The Appeals Court couldn’t get past that she had a chance to litigate those claims and then get paid for a release of them that she had promised earlier.’”