Licudine

*920 A plaintiff who sues and prevails at trial is statutorily entitled to prejudgment interest starting from the date she makes a settlement offer under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 (a so-called "998 offer") 1 as *921 long as that offer is "valid," and the subsequent verdict is "more favorable" than the rejected 998 offer. ( Civ. Code, § 3291 ; Elrod v. Oregon Cummins Diesel, Inc. (1987) 195 Cal.App.3d 692 , 698, 241 Cal.Rptr. 108 ( Elrod ).) A 998 offer is valid only if, among other things, the offeror knew that the offeree had reasonable access to the facts necessary to "intelligently evaluate the offer." ( Id. at pp. 699-700, 241 Cal.Rptr. 108 ; Najera v. Huerta (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 872 , 878, 119 Cal.Rptr.3d 714 ( Najera ).) What factors are relevant in deciding whether the offeree had enough facts to evaluate the offer? Although courts should evaluate the totality of the facts ( Arno v. Helinet Corp. (2005) 130 Cal.App.4th 1019 , 1026, 30 Cal.Rptr.3d 669 ( Arno ) ), we conclude that *80 three factors are especially pertinent: (1) how far into the litigation the 998 offer was made; (2) the information available to the offeree prior to the 998 offer's expiration; and…