§2A.6 Analysis

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§2A.6 ANALYSIS

In the event of a dispute between parties or counsel regarding the existence or material terms of an alleged agreement in a proceeding, a court will enforce that agreement only if it has been stated on the record in open court, entered in the minutes, or made in writing and signed by the party or counsel who denies its effect. See CR 2A; see also RCW 2.44.010(1).

In general, CR 2A applies to stipulations made during litigation, including full settlement of claims and admissions and concessions of counsel on the record in open court. The rule only applies to agreements that are made by parties or their counsel "in respect to the proceedings in a cause," the "purport" of which agreement is disputed. Inre Marriage of Ferree, 71 Wn.App. 35, 39, 856 P.2d 706 (1993) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). To be disputed, a party must genuinely dispute the existence or material terms of the stipulation, rather than immaterial terms or the circumstances of the formation of a stipulation. Id. at 40; see also In re Patterson, 93 Wn.App. 579, 583-85, 969 P.2d 1106 (1999). When those elements are not met, CR 2A is inapplicable. For example, in In re Guardianship of Bellanich, 43 Wn.App. 345, 348, 717 P.2d 307 (1986), overruled on other grounds by Brouillet v. Cowles Publ'g Co., 114 Wn.2d 788, 793-94, 791 P.2d 526 (1990), a son's oral testimony in a guardianship hearing that he was willing to quitclaim his interest in certain real property to his mother or her appointed guardian was not binding under CR 2A against the son in another proceeding because the ownership of such real property was not at issue in the guardianship hearing.

Counsel's authority to enter into a stipulation and ability to bind a client to that stipulation is also addressed in RCW 2.44.010(1). This statute provides that counsel has the ability to stipulate

[t]o bind his or her client in any of the proceedings in an action or special proceeding by his or her agreement duly made, or entered upon the minutes of the court; but the court shall disregard all agreements and stipulations in relation to the conduct of, or any of the proceedings in, an action or special proceeding unless such agreement or stipulation be made in open court, or in presence of the clerk, and entered in the minutes by him or her, or signed by the party against whom the same is alleged, or his or her attorney[.]

RCW 2.44.010(1). By its terms and context, this statute applies only to agreements made by counsel on behalf of the client and not to agreements made by clients themselves. Marriage of Ferree, 71 Wn. App. at 46.

There are avariety of methods to satisfy the formality requirements of CR 2Aand RCW 2.44.010(1), including, for example, a written document titled "Stipulated Facts," signed by counsel for both parties, Riordan v. Commercial Travelers Mut. Ins. Co., 11 Wn.App. 707, 714-15, 525 P.2d 804 (1974); an express admission of a prior oral agreement in a pleading, Hodgson v. Bicknell, 49 Wn.2d 130, 133, 136, 298 P.2d 844 (1956) (applying predecessor to CR 2A); counsel's oral agreement made in open court on the record, State v. A.N.W. Seed Corp., 54 Wn.App. 729, 731-32, 776 P.2d 143 (1989); or a trial court's announcement in open court on the record that the parties had entered into a stipulation, to which the parties and their counsel did not object, Cook v. Vennigerholz, 44 Wn.2d 612, 615, 269 P.2d 824 (1954). Notwithstanding language in CR 2A that the court will not regard an agreement "unless the evidence thereof shall be in writing and subscribed by the attorneys denying the same," the signatures of the parties themselves are sufficient to satisfy the signature formality of CR 2A. Patterson, 93 Wn.App. at 584-85 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

Conversely, the following all failed to meet the requirements of CR 2A and, without more, were not binding: counsel's...