Ray

I. INTRODUCTION

Appellant, who won a jury verdict of over $900,000 in a personal injury action against the respondent property owners, appeals from a postjudgment order of the trial court awarding him prejudgment interest from the date of his second, not his first, Code of Civil Procedure section 998 (section 998) settlement offer to respondents. He claims this order is inconsistent with the language of Civil Code section 3291 (section 3291) and, further, that several cases expressly holding that only the last section 998 offer is valid are inapplicable to the facts of this case. We agree and hence reverse the trial court’s order.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

According to his complaint filed in October 2002, a little less than a year earlier appellant was injured when he fell on a “dangerous stairway” attached to property owned by the respondents. His complaint alleged both premises liability and general negligence and named as defendants the owners of the property, then Barbara Goodman and her husband, Richard Goodman.

On December 2, 2003, while the case was pending, appellant served section 998 offers offering to settle the case for $400,000 from each…