$16,000 in Expert Witness Fees Against Defendants Affirmed.
In Slothower v. Northern California Inalliance, Case No. C067330 (3d Dist. Aug. 14, 2014) (unpublished), defendants failed to accept plaintiffs’ two separate offers to compromise, one on each defendant in the amount of $649,999. Later, the jury returned a verdict of $1.2 million in favor of plaintiffs and against both defendants. The lower court awarded $16,800 in expert witness fees against the defendants based on their rejection of the separate 998 offers.
Defendants’ efforts to reverse the 998 expense awards were unfruitful.
Based on Hilliger v. Golden, 107 Cal.App.3d 394, 396-397, 400 (1980), the appellate court sustained the lower court award. The defense argued that the $649,999 awards had to be doubled to $1,299,998, which was a combined figure which plaintiffs did not beat vis-a-vis the $1.2 million verdict. Wrong, in this case. Even though the interests of the two defendants were identical, the 998 offers were separate and made to two distinct defendants just as they were in Hilliger even though the offers were concurrent in Slothower and months apart in Hilliger—a distinction found inconsequential. Plaintiffs’ verdict did beat the separate offers to each defendant, so expert fee award affirmed.