Most Of The Costs Were Expert Witness Fees.
Although attorney’s fees in California are rarely at issue in normal personal injury cases, CCP section 998 can be a cost-shifting statute of significance for either side given that expert fee expenses can be significant and can be awarded to the “winner” of a well-crafted 998 offer—all illustrated in the following case.
In Arches v. Lee, Case No. B344691 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Sept. 14, 2026) (unpublished), personal injury plaintiff in a low-collision bike/car accident was defensed after a jury trial. Earlier, plaintiff rejected a defense $20,000 CCP section 998 offer 15 months into the litigation, with the acceptance being allowed 2 months before trial. The offer was not accepted. Although the defense requested $144,661 in costs (mainly expert witness fees), the lower court awarded the defense $99,800. The Court of Appeal found the section 998 offer enforceable, affirming the costs award. Because plaintiff only challenged the validity of the 998 offer in a supplemental brief supporting a tax costs motion, the contention was forfeited because the defense had no chance to reply. However, plaintiff also lost on the merits, because there was plenty of time to evaluate the offer and plaintiff identified no information it needed from the defense to assess the reasonableness of the offer.