New CA Civil Code/Insurance Case

I do three things - all CA civil law related:

• I serve as a mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. conducting Zoom and in-person hearings throughout California. I relentlessly pursue closure as a mediator. As an arbitrator and referee, I preside over relaxed and friendly hearings, carefully review all admitted evidence, and issue fair and impartial decisions. I handle matters in the areas of business, employment, insurance (bad faith, coverage, UIM), probate, real property, and torts (elder abuse, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability, and wrongful death).  
• I provide Master Lawyer Mentoring™ services to law firms to train their associates to quickly become productive members by mastering essential skills and learning how to strategically work up and present their cases to obtain excellent results for their clients and the law firm. 
• I publish California Case Summaries™, preparing one-paragraph summaries of every new case published in California in annual, quarterly and monthly publications. My summaries give subscribers a competitive advantage. They always know the new case law and apply it to their cases to work up their cases better, make better arguments, get bigger settlements and win more summary judgments and trials.

Knowing the new case law makes me an excellent mediator, arbitrator, referee and mentor. In this blog post, I discuss a new civil case that was published last month. 

Can A UIM Plaintiff Get Prejudment Interest from the Carrier?

In a personal injury case, a plaintiff case can get pre-judgment interest if the defendant's carrier rejects a CCP 998 offer. But what happens when the plaintiff is arbitrating an uninsured motorist claim? Last month, the Sixth District Court of Appeal addressed this issue. 

New CA Civil Code/Insurance Decision  

Glassman v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Am. (2023) _ Cal.App.5^th _ , 2023 WL 3144465: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order denying plaintiff’s motion for prejudment interest, under Civil Code section 3287(a), from the date of plaintiff’s CCP section 998 offer to settle her uninsured motorist (UIM) claim for $999,999.99 (the UIM umbrella policy limit was $1 million). Plaintiff won the UIM arbitration and was awarded the $1 million policy limit. Plaintiff could not obtain prejudgment interest under Civil Code 3291 because the California Supreme Court, in Pilimai v. Farmers Insurance Exchange Co. (2006) 39 Cal.4th 133, ruled that UIM proceedings are not actions for personal injury sounding in tort to which section 3291 applies, are instead in the nature of an action in contract arising out of a policy of insurance. In this case plaintiff sought pre-judgment interest under Civil Code section 3287(a). To obtain pre-judgment interest plaintiff had to show: she was entitled to recover damages certain, or capable of being made certain by calculation, the right to recover was vested on a particular day, and the defendant knew was able to calculate from reasonably available information the amount of the plaintiff’s liquidated claim owed as of a particular day. The trial court properly denied plaintiff’s request for prejudgment interest under section 3287(a) because the amount of her policy-limit claim for excess UIM benefits was not certain or capable of being made certain and this uncertainty was not fixed by plaintiff’s CCP section 998 policy-limit offer. The Court of Appeal rejected plaintiff’s argument that an insured’s prevailing CCP section 998 offer in a UIM proceeding should effectively liquidate the insured’s claim in the amount and as of the date of the offer under section 3287(a), mandating an award of prejudgment interest. Moreover, the record did not include evidence that defendant had knowledge that plaintiff’s economic losses or special damages resulting from the accident—her hard costs—already exceeded the umbrella-policy limits when plaintiff’s CCP section 998 offer was made. (C.A. 6th, April 28, 2023.)

Mediation, Arbitration and Referee Services

I help attorneys and their clients throughout California as a mediator, arbitrator and referee at ADR Services, Inc. I handle business, commercial, employment, insurance (bad faith, coverage, UIM), probate, real property, and tort (elder abuse, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability and wrongful death) cases. I've been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980 and a member of ABOTA since 1995. I've represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of civil cases including the areas listed above. To schedule a new matter, please contact one of my case manager at ADR services, Ins., Haward Cho, [email protected], (213) 683-1600, or Rachael Boughan, [email protected], (619) 233-1323,  

California Case Summaries™

Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee
Master Lawyer Mentoring™
California Case Summaries™
CA Civil Trial Attorney Since 1980
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President: San Diego County Bar Assn.
Past President: SD ABOTA Chapter
Phone: (619) 990-4312. Email: [email protected]