Wilson

In a civil trial, if a plaintiff rejects a defendant’s settlement offer and later fails to obtain a more favorable judgment after trial, section 998 of the Code of Civil Procedure prohibits the plaintiff from recovering attorney fees and costs and requires that he or she pay the defendant’s costs from the time of the offer. To clarify what constitutes a “more favorable judgment,” the Legislature recently amended the statute to provide that “. . . a plaintiff in a cause of action not based on tort shall not be deemed to have obtained a more favorable judgment unless the judgment obtained by the plaintiff, exclusive of attorney’s fees and costs, exceeds the offer made by the defendant pursuant to this section.” (§ 998, subd. (c), italics added.) In this case, defendant Safeway Stores, Inc., made a section 998 settlement offer that was greater than the jury’s ultimate award of damages but less than the judgment if plaintiff Shirley Wilson’s preoffer attorney fees and costs were included. The trial court included, or added to the award, the preoffer attorney fees and costs in determining that Wilson had obtained a “more favorable judgment.” On this appeal, Safeway does not…