Letters
Apr. 23, 2024
The unintended consequences of CCP 998 offers
CCP 998 is not intended as a surrogate for punitive damages and it should encourage settlement and reasonableness for both parties. But in practice, that’s now how it works. The legislature needs to amend the statute to make it more fair.
John P McGill
Attorney and Founder, McGill Law Firm, APC
The MCLE article by Arash Homampour, "Turning Down Reasonable 998 Offers Can Be Costly," (Daily Journal, March 28, 2024), provided an excellent and informative summary of the CCP 998 process. The way the 998 Offer to Compromise works, how an Offer needs to be made, and the considerations the parties need to make in either making or responding to the 998 Offer, are laid out and explained c...