How have courts interpreted a stipulation in a personal injury case?

This was the situation in Burns v. McCain (1930) 107 Cal.App. 291, 290 P. 623, in which attorneys entered into a written stipulation purporting, on behalf of their respective clients, to compromise pending litigation by payment of a specified amount by defendant to plaintiff. Defendant, as it turned out, was unaware of the stipulation and had not authorized her attorney to enter into it. On that basis the trial court concluded that the stipulation should not be enforced, and gave judgment for defendant.