Guerrero

— This is the second appeal in an action arising out of plaintiffs claims against multiple defendants for defects in his newly purchased home. In the first appeal, this court affirmed a judgment reducing to zero a verdict plaintiff obtained against one of the defendants by offsetting against the verdict the amount of a larger pretrial settlement with other defendants. The present appeal questions whether a pretrial settlement and corresponding offset to zero necessarily requires the shifting of postoffer costs under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 if the plaintiff previously rejected a section 998 cash offer from the defendant against whom the claim was tried. There is currently a division of authority with respect to a similar issue under section 1032. However, regardless of the proper interpretation of section 1032, the determination of whether the plaintiff recovered more or less than the amount offered by the defendant for the purpose of applying section 998 is to be made taking into account any other settlements entered as of the time the section 998 offer was outstanding, but not considering settlements that had not yet been reached. The trial court here…