Lewis

Adopted by the 1971 Legislature and by the terms of the enacting statute operative January 1, 1972 (Stats. 1971, ch. 1150, § 4) to actions filed on or after January 1, 1971 (id., § 3) and to “remain in effect only until December 31, 1973, and as of that date . . . repealed” (id, § 5), sections 576.5 and 999 of the Code of Civil Procedure embodied, during their self-limited duration, a scheme to encourage the pretrial settlement of automobile accident cases in Los Angeles County. (Comment, Selected 1971 California Legislation, 3 Pacific L.J. at p. 225.) This appeal raises the issue of the applicability of the self-repealed code sections to an action filed and settlement offer made by a plaintiff in the period from January 1, 1971, to December 31, 1973, where the plaintiff was awarded her judgment after the latter date. We conclude that section 999, providing for interest on such a judgment in cases within the time span of the legislation, is inapplicable to the case at bench because of the self-limited period of the statute. Accordingly, we affirm a trial court order striking an item of interest from plaintiffs’ cost bill.

On July 20, 1972, plaintiffs Mildred Lewis and…