Arreola

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Maria Arreola appeals from a $1 million judgment in her favor entered following an attempted acceptance of her settlement offers by defendants Ronaldo Napole and World Express Tech, Inc. pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 998. She also appeals from a post-judgment order denying her motion to set aside the judgment pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473. We conclude that, even though the offers were not valid statutory offers under Code of Civil Procedure section 998, they were valid non-statutory offers, and defendants did not properly accept them according to their terms. Therefore, we reverse the judgment the trial court entered pursuant to section 998.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 1, 2011 Arreola filed a complaint for personal injuries. She alleged that she was injured on March 30, 2009 when, while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk, she was struck by a Chevrolet Suburban driven by Napole while he was working for his employer World Express. Defendants answered on May 31, 2011. On September 1, 2011 counsel for Arreola instructed their legal assistant, Cynthia Carter, to prepare two Civil Code section 998 (section…