Billie Burgess v. Mark Porterfield and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. SuperAmerica Group, Inc., dba SuperAmerica Corporation, No. 22956 (W. Va. March 11, 1996) (McHugh, C.J.): ___ W. Va. ___, 469 S.E.2d 114:
Affirming a circuit court's refusal to reduce a punitive damages verdict by the amount of an earlier settlement, the Court held that defendants against whom awards of compensatory and punitive damages are rendered are entitled to a reduction of the compensatory damages award, but not the punitive damages award, by the amount of any good faith settlement previously made with the plaintiff by other jointly liable parties.
Annette J. Painter v. Patrick Devolta Peavy, No. 22206 (W. Va. November 18, 1994) (Cleckley, J.): 192 W.Va. 189, 451 S.E.2d 755:
Where claimant negotiated insurance check which stated, "[f]or full settlement of all claims," endorsement which stated, "[d]eposited under protest," the Court held that if a check is tendered bearing the words "payment in full" or of similar purport, the payee may either accept the check as accord and satisfaction or return the check to the payor. On another issue, the Court agreed that continued settlement negotiations after the check was negotiated did not constitute a waiver of accord and satisfaction, holding that whether parties altered their original contract depends upon whether there was mutual consent.
State of West Virginia ex rel. McDowell County Board of Education v. Honorable Booker T. Stephens, Judge of the Circuit Court of McDowell County, Melanie Campbell Church, and Wendy Emazetta Burks, No. 22050 (W. Va. July 20, 1994) (Workman, J.): 191 W.Va. 711, 447 S.E.2d 912
Denying a writ of prohibition against a plaintiff's assertion of a belated cause of action against a third-party defendant who settled with the third-party plaintiff, the Court held that a good faith settlement of a contribution claim, although resolving such claim between joint tortfeasors, does not bar the plaintiff from subsequently asserting a direct cause of action against the settling joint tortfeasor unless such tortfeasor obtained a release from the plaintiff at the time of settlement.
Walter E. Hamilton, Executor of the Estate of David L. Hamilton, and Walter E. Hamilton, duly appointed Committee for Joan A. Hamilton v. John W. Harper, Haskell Burke and Paul D. Waugh, Inc., a corporation, d/b/a Ragtime Club, and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, No. 19710 (W. Va. April 25, 1991) (Workman, J.): 185 W. Va. 51, 404 S.E.2d 540:
Where an insurance company's offer of settlement was accepted after plaintiffs' counsel unilaterally learned that a federal district court was ruling that there was no coverage, the Court reversed the trial court's order to enforce the settlement, holding that where the consideration for an offer of settlement is dismissal of a civil action, the agreement is not enforceable when acceptance is made by one party with the unilateral knowledge that a dispositive ruling has been issued which fully resolves the litigation.