No consent, no settlement

In Crutcher v. City of Fort Worth, the Fifth Court addressd the enforcement of a settlement agreement. As to the issue of consent, the Court held the question is “whether the trial judge possesses information clearly sufficient to put her on notice that a party’s consent is lacking.” Here, the plaintiff filed a response claiming that the settlement failed, the parties never agreed on all material terms, and fraud tainted the agreement. This was enough to signal lack of consent, and the trial court abused its discretion by enforcing the settlement.

The Court also rejected the argument that the plaintiff was barred from appealing because she accepted funds from the court’s registry (the “acceptance of benefit” doctrine). The court considered three factors: whether the plaintiff intended to acquiesce in the judgment, whether the funds were dissipated beyond recovery, and whether the opposing party would be unfairly prejudiced. The record did not show that her acceptance was voluntary—she may have felt pressured to accept funds once opposing counsel moved for a share of them. The appellee also failed to show the funds were irretrievably gone, and any prejudice was lessened because the appellee “shoulders some blame for the situation because it obtained an erroneous judgment based on a mere motion to enforce settlement agreement in contravention of settled precedent.” No. 05-24-01005-CV Mar. 4, 2026