Puerta

*1269 Opinion

Antonio Puerta and Anna Berta Torres were in a car accident in the City of Westminster. Puerta sued Torres, acting as his own attorney. After a one-day trial, the court found in Torres’s favor. Puerta now appeals, arguing the court failed to provide a statement of decision after his timely request. He also argues the court’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence, that the court wrongly excluded evidence and improperly granted Torres costs under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 and section 1033.5.

With respect to section 998, Puerta argues that Torres’s offer failed to comply with the statute, which requires the offer to include “a provision that allows the accepting party to indicate acceptance of the offer by signing a statement that the offer is accepted.” Whether an offer without such a provision is valid is apparently an issue of first impression in the published case law. As we discuss below, we are bound by the plain language of the statute and therefore agree with Puerta that Torres’s offer was invalid.

On all other issues, we find no merit in Puerta’s arguments and affirm the trial court’s judgment. We therefore order the trial court to…