Goin Round in Circles
A recurring theme is that collectively speaking, lawyers often make and evaluate Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offers without a complete understanding of how the statute operates. That knowledge gap is a little scary.
But before you conclude I am talking down to trial lawyers (and many have heard me admire how trial lawyers react in real time and keep all those plates in the air), check this out: judges sometimes get 998 offers wrong too. And think about this – if anyone sees 998 offers in operation the most – it’s the civil trial court judges. After all, they have the robust caseloads and are more apt to regularly deal with 998 offers.
In preparing for the upcoming 2011 MCLE Spectacular presentation, I came across a splendid example of how section 998 trips up lawyers and sometimes judges alike. The case is Warfield v. Chandler 2011 Cal.App. Unpub. LEXIS 4024. Warfield has a lot to offer.
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