Perez
Perez v. Torres
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Cornell, J.
*421 Opinion
Marta L. Perez was injured when the vehicle in which she was riding was struck by a vehicle driven by Gustavo Davalos Torres. The jury returned a verdict in Perez’s favor. Thereafter, Torres filed a memorandum of costs claiming that he had made a valid offer pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 998 (hereafter section 998) 1 for more than Perez recovered at trial. The trial court found the section 998 offer was invalid because it failed to include a statutorily required acceptance provision and granted Perez’s motion to tax all of the costs sought by Torres. Torres asserts the trial court erred in finding his section 998 offer was invalid and in granting Perez’s motion to tax costs. We disagree and affirm the order.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY
This is an appeal from an order made after judgment was entered. Thus, the underlying facts, for the most part, are not relevant to the issue before us.
Relevant here is that Torres made a section 998 offer to settle the case against Perez for $100,000.49. Perez did not accept the offer. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Perez for $77,986 in compensatory damages and for $1,400 in punitive damages.…