Not Unreasonable to Make Offer to One Defendant, At Insurance Policy Limit, to Detriment of Co-Defendant.
Plaintiff in Arias v. McDaris, Case No. B254163 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Dec. 5, 2014) (unpublished) was a personal injury claimant suing two defendants, a car driver and the one alleged to have negligently entrusted the car to the driver. Plaintiff offered to settle with the driver for $100,000 under a CCP § 998 offer (an insurance policy limit offer) but did not make an offer to the other defendant. After obtaining a jury verdict which was reduced a little on appeal to around $125,000, driver defendant challenged the lower court’s award of costs of $29,080.16 to plaintiff after plaintiff “beat” his own offer through the higher jury verdict.
Driver’s appeal was not persuasive. Given that insurance is merely one factor to be considered, Arno v. Helinet Corp., 130 Cal.App.4th 1019, 1026 (2005), the lower court did not err in finding the 998 reasonable given that plaintiff showed he got close to the verdict for both defendants, such that any prejudice to the defendant not subject to a 998 offer was harmless in nature.