Compromise and Offers to Compromise — Rule 408

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

Compromise and Offers to Compromise — Rule 408

SUMMARY OF RULE 408

• Offers of settlement or compromise are not admissible to prove liability, invalidity, or amount of a claim, or to impeach through prior inconsistent statement or contradiction.
• Statements or evidence of conduct made during negotiations are not admissible.
• Evidence is not excluded if offered for another purpose, such as proving bias or prejudice, or negating a contention of undue delay and proving effort to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution.

LEGAL AUTHORITIES

• The question of whether statements contained in a letter were part of an effort to compromise was a question of fact, and where the letter may be an admission, it is excluded because it was made in a letter offering to settle. H & H Distributors, Inc. v. BBC Int'l, Inc., 812 P.2d 659 (Colo. App. 1990).

• A document entitled "Settlement Detail," which included an acknowledgment of the value of the opposing party's claim, was admissible because it was a status report for the defendant's use in the ordinary course of business and not for purposes of a settlement discussion. Scott Co. of California v. MK-Ferguson Co., 832 P.2d 1000 (Colo. App. 1991), overruled on other grounds, Lewis v. Lewis, 189 P.3d 1134 (Colo. 2008).

• Mediation communications enjoy greater protection than settlement communications under CRE 408. However, the mediator's opinion of liability in a worker's compensation proceeding was admitted for the limited purpose of showing prior notice. American Guarantee & Liability Ins....