KRISTEN L. MIX, Magistrate Judge.
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs'
On November 2, 2014, Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Acceptance of Offer of Judgment [#32], stating that all Plaintiffs except for Leonard Martinez and Michael Wolfe accepted Defendant's Offer of Judgment [#32-1]. The Offer of Judgment states:
Offer of Judgment [#32-1].
In a prior Motion [#35], Plaintiffs stated that "[o]n November 12, 2014, Defendant's counsel notified Plaintiffs' attorney that Defendant will not be paying the Offer of Judgment, but may do so in `installments' at some unknown time in the future as it is able." Plaintiffs further stated:
Motion [#35] at 2.
On November 17, 2014, the Court entered a Minute Order on the Motion [#35] in which it took under advisement the portion of the Motion concerning the validity of the Offer of Judgment and Plaintiffs' request for sanctions against Defendant and Defendant's counsel under Rule 11. On November 25, 2014, the Court entered an Order requiring the Clerk of Court to enter judgment against Defendant, stating:
Order [#41] at 2-3. The present Motion [#45] followed entry of judgment by the Clerk of Court.
Plaintiffs ask the Court to reconsider the judgment entered in this case under Rule 68. Motion [#45]. They seek relief under Rule 60(b), which governs motions for relief from final judgments and orders. "Rule 60(b) relief is extraordinary and may be granted only in exceptional circumstances." Butler v. Kempthorne, 532 F.3d 1108, 1110 (10th Cir. 2008) (quoting Beugler v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co., 490 F.3d 1224, 1229 (10th Cir. 2007)). A litigant shows exceptional circumstances by satisfying one or more of the grounds for relief enumerated in Rule 60(b). Van Skiver v. United States, 952 F.2d 1241, 1243 (10th Cir. 1991). Pursuant to Rule 60(b), in the following circumstances, the Court may grant relief from a final judgment or order:
"Parties seeking relief under Rule 60(b) have a higher hurdle to overcome because such a motion is not a substitute for an appeal." Cummings v. Gen. Motors Corp., 365 F.3d 944, 955 (10th Cir. 2004). Here, Plaintiff seeks relief under only Rule 60(b)(3) and Rule 60(b)(6).
As an initial matter, it is worth noting that Rule 68 contains no requirement that the judgment which is offered and accepted must be immediately paid in full. The Rule contemplates entry of a judgment, nothing more. A party in whose favor a judgment has been entered may enforce the judgment by obtaining a writ of execution and by executing the judgment in accordance with procedures set forth under state or federal law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 69(a)(1). Further, a judgment creditor has several tools at his disposal for collection of the judgment, including an examination of the debtor under oath. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 69(a)(2). Nothing in Rule 68 abrogates the scheme contained in the Federal Rules for collection of judgments. Hence, Rule 68 does not explicitly or implicitly provide for immediate payment of the judgment on acceptance of an Offer of Judgment.
Rule 60(b)(3) may be used to address either fraud on the court or fraud between the parties. Zuruch N. Am. v. Matrix Serv., Inc., 426 F.3d 1281, 1291 (10th Cir. 2005). Here, Plaintiffs assert that there was fraud between the parties. See Motion [#45] at 4. "Regardless of the specific form of the allegation, the party relying on Rule 60(b)(3) must, by adequate proof, clearly substantiate the claim of fraud, misconduct or misrepresentation. In other words, [he] must show clear and convincing proof of fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct." Jones v. Ferguson Pontiac Buick GMC, Inc., 374 F. App'x 787, 788 n.1 (10th Cir. 2010).
Rule 60(b)(3) does not automatically provide a safe harbor for parties who accept an Offer of Judgment while operating on mistaken belief, especially when that mistaken belief is not caused by the opposing party. As two examples, in Latshaw v. Trainer Wortham & Co., Inc., 452 F.3d 1097, 1102 (9th Cir. 2006), relief was refused when an attorney allegedly misinformed her client regarding whether the client could be liable for the opposing parties' legal fees. The client averred that this misinformation induced her to accept a Rule 68 offer of judgment. Id. The Latshaw court disagreed, stating that alleged fraud by a party's own attorney could not satisfy the "adverse party" requirement of Rule 60(b)(3). In Barela v. City of Woodland, No. C06-5431BHS, 2011 WL 2181790, at *3 (W.D. Wash. June 3, 2011), relief was refused when the plaintiff asserted that he would not have accepted the offer of judgment if he had known it would have limited his ability to seek attorney's fees for an appeal. The court found that the plaintiff had failed to present facts either showing that his ability to request certain fees was impaired or that there was misrepresentation or misconduct by the opposing party. Id.
Here, Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing proof that Defendant engaged in fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct. Although Plaintiffs state they "would not have accepted the Offer of Judgment if they had known about the fraud, misrepresentation and/or other misconduct," Motion [#45] at 4, Plaintiffs have failed to adequately establish that the alleged fraud, misrepresentation, or other misconduct was part of an "intent or deliberate plan or scheme to interfere with" Plaintiffs' case. Zurich N. Am., 426 F.3d at 1292. In fact, the misconduct of which Plaintiffs complain is Defendant's alleged failure to inform them that Defendant would require a payment plan for any judgment entered against it. Yet, on October 6, 2014, a mere seventeen days before making its Offer of Judgment, Defendant directly informed Plaintiffs during settlement negotiations that "Plaintiffs would have to accept payment of [the offered] amount in an installment plan, as [Defendant] is unable to pay this amount in full." Def.'s Ex. A, F.R.E. 408 Confidential Settlement Communication [#36-1]; see 23 Wright & Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence § 5314 (stating that Federal Rule of Evidence 408 allows an offer of compromise to be used "to prove a state of mind of the offeror other than consciousness of liability"). Here, Defendant's written statement made directly to opposing counsel less than three weeks before the offer of judgment cuts against Plaintiffs' assertion that Defendant engaged in fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct, since the Offer of Judgment is merely silent on this point.
Accordingly, the Court finds that the entered judgment should not be altered pursuant to Rule 60(b)(3).
The Court next turns to Plaintiffs' argument regarding Rule 60(b)(6). "The clear import of the language of clause (b)(6) is that the clause is restricted to reasons other than those enumerated in the previous five clauses." United States v. Buck, 281 F.3d 1336, 1341 (10th Cir. 2002). "Courts have found few narrowly-defined situations that clearly present `other reasons justifying relief'" under Rule 60(b)(6). Okla. Chapter of Am. Acad. of Pediatrics v. Fogarty, Nos. 05-5100, 05-5107, 2010 WL 3341881, at *2 (10th Cir. July 20, 2010). "Courts have granted relief under Rule 60(b)(6) `when, after entry of judgment, events not contemplated by the moving party render enforcement of the judgment inequitable,' where a party is indigent or when it offends justice to deny such relief." Mbaku v. Bank of Am., Nat'l Assoc., No. 12-cv-00190-PAB-KLM, 2014 WL 3906463, at *1 (D. Colo. Aug. 11, 2014) (quoting Cashner v. Freedom Stores, Inc., 98 F.3d 572, 580 (10th Cir. 1996); Yapp v. Excel Corp., 186 F.3d 1222, 1231-32 (10th Cir. 1999)). "Rule 60(b)(6) relief is . . . difficult to attain and is appropriate only when it offends justice to deny such relief. The denial of a 60(b)(6) motion will be reversed [by the Tenth Circuit] only if [the Court] find[s] a complete absence of a reasonable basis and [is] certain that the decision is wrong." Morales v. Jones, 480 F. App'x 898, 901 (10th Cir. 2012) (quoting Zurich N. Am., 426 F.3d at 1293 (internal quotations, citations, and ellipses omitted)).
As grounds for relief here, Plaintiffs assert that Defendant's Offer of Judgment was made in bad faith, because Defendant "attempted to significantly change the terms and conditions of the Offer of Judgment
Rule 60(b)(6) does not permit relief here because Plaintiffs' "willing and voluntary signing of acceptance of a Rule 68 offer, which [they] later regret[ted] and/or seek[ ] to add additional terms to, does not present extraordinary circumstances so as to justify relieving [them] from a settlement under Rule 68." Chatman v. Tyner, No. 1:03-cv-06636-AWI-SMS PC, 2010 WL 2867845, at *3 (E.D. Cal. July 21, 2010). Ramifications caused by failure to consider a particular factor to be weighed in deciding whether to accept the offer do not equate to a misunderstanding of the settlement terms. Id. at *1 (citing Latshaw v. Trainer Wortham & Co., Inc., 452 F.3d 1097, 1102 (9th Cir.2006)).
Chatman v. Tyner involved circumstances remarkably similar to the instant case.
2010 WL 2867845, at *1. Although the discussion in Chatman here stemmed from Rule 60(b)(1), its reasoning directly applies to Plaintiffs' argument of bad faith under Rule 60(b)(6). Plaintiffs assert that Defendant's offer was in bad faith, but, rather, Plaintiffs seek to impose a non-existent term on the agreement, a term which was not actually included in the agreement and to which Defendant did not adhere. Plaintiffs understood the unambiguous terms of the settlement agreement, i.e., they would receive a fixed amount of money in exchange for entry of judgment dismissing this matter with prejudice. Def.'s Fed. R. Civ. P. 68 Offer of Judgment [#32-1]. No action taken or avoided by Defendant has changed that outcome. Here, especially because Plaintiffs were aware before the Offer of Judgment was made that Defendant might not be able to make a lump-sum payment, they were on notice of an issue that they should have contemplated prior to acceptance of the Offer of Judgment. Thus, the Court cannot conclude that Defendant altered the terms of the agreement in bad faith after Plaintiffs accepted the Offer of Judgment. There is no reason to believe that Plaintiffs will not ultimately obtain the money that they agreed to accept to settle their claims. In light of these considerations, the Court cannot find that it "offends justice" to deny relief to Plaintiffs under Rule 60(b)(6). Morales, 480 F. App'x at 901. Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY