New York state inmate did not enter into a valid release and settlement agreement on his claim that a correctional officer told another prisoner that he was an informer, subjecting him to subsequent harassment and risk of physical attack. While the prisoner did receive a 18-week decrease in his confinement in a special housing unit, as proposed in the settlement agreement, the settlement agreement was not the cause of the reduction, and the prisoner never actually signed the settlement agreement. The release and settlement agreement were therefore not enforceable, and the prisoner could proceed with his lawsuit. Burgess v. Morse, No. 03-CV-63451, 387 F. Supp. 2d 246 (W.D.N.Y. 2005). [N/R]
     Prisoner was not entitled to reconsideration of a trial court's denial of his motion to set aside his prior settlement agreement in a federal civil rights lawsuit concerning the alleged inadequacy of his medical care, one of the terms of which required him to release his claims then pending in another federal civil rights lawsuit. The trial court's order dismissing the settled case without prejudice subject to dismissal with prejudice when the parties filed an stipulation to that effect was a final order for purposes of appeal, even though the stipulation was never filed. As the settlement occurred in 2003, and he first filed his motion to set it aside in March of 2003, his motion for reconsideration of the denial of the motion, filed in June 2004, was untimely and could only be considered if filed within ten business days. Holly v. Patrianakos, No. 04-3031, 137 Fed. Appx. 883 (7th Cir. 2005). [N/R]
     Detainee was properly awarded $200,000 in damages against county sheriff despite having signed an agreement releasing sheriff from liability prior to discharge from jail; jury could properly determine that the release agreement was not voluntary and was therefore unenforceable. Vallone v. Lee, 7 F.3d 196 (11th Cir. 1993).