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I've been involved in a Mass Tort lawsuit against a drug company for several years. Recently, a confidential settlement agreement was reached between the law firm representing me and the drug company. I don't intend to agree to the settlement because the terms are simply unacceptable. My question is, if I don't accept this agreement and I cut ties with my lawyers, am I under any obligation to keep quiet about the settlement terms?

The case is being tried in New Jersey, but I'm located in another state.

Andrew
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Probably not.

It appears that in the case in question, your lawyers, while they were representing you, agreed to a protective order that kept certain information including settlement offers made to them by the opposing parties' lawyers (even if those offers were rejected) confidential.

You are bound by the agreements made by your lawyers if they are your lawyers at the time, even they later cease to be your lawyers.

So, if you were to make the disclosure of this information subject to a protective order, the court involved could hold you in contempt of court and issue sanctions (including fines and incarceration) for failing to honor the court order to seal the case, because this protective order was binding upon you, because you agreed to it through your lawyers who were acting as your agents at the time.

The fact that you are no longer represented by those lawyers doesn't vacate the protective order.

CAVEAT: This is an interpretation of the facts made with incomplete information. A truly reliable answer would require review of the exact documents in the case filed with the court which is beyond the scope of Law.SE.

ohwilleke
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am I under any obligation to keep quiet about the settlement terms?

No, unless some relevant information is missing in your description.

I gather that the case is tried under the New Jersey law. If otherwise, please clarify. Also, I'm assuming that you did not sign anything that gives your attorney(s) unrestricted, full discretion in the decision-making.

From the description you provide, the settlement seemingly violates the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct and therefore it is void.

You mention that the settlement agreement was reached between the law firm and the defendant. Since you deem the terms simply unacceptable, it appears that the attorney(s) representing you violated RPC 1.2(a) (stating in relevant part: "A lawyer shall abide by a client's decision whether to settle a matter.") and/or RPC 1.8(g) ("A lawyer who represents two or more clients shall not participate in making an aggregate settlement of the claims of [...] the clients").

The court in Cardillo v. Bloomfield 206 Corp., 411 N.J.Super. 574; 988 A2d. 136, 140 (2010) states that

"A contract that violates the Rules of Professional Conduct is void and unenforceable as a violation of public policy. Jacob v. Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus, supra, 128 N.J. at 17, 607 A.2d 142. Because the Cardillo Agreement violates RPC 5.6(b), it is not enforceable."

Replacing RPC 5.6 with the rules I mentioned above, a similar conclusion would apply to your situation. Therefore, you are under no obligation to comply with the terms or confidentiality of what is an invalid settlement contract.

P.S: We pro se litigants are often ridiculed for representing ourselves in court, but the situation you describe is an example of (many) attorneys disavowing their rules of "professional" conduct and defrauding even their own clients.

Iñaki Viggers
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