Richard Costantino v. Stanley Skolnick

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of declaratory relief because the offer-of-judgment statute authorizes interest only after an actual trial, and the parties' settlement and stipulation could not be treated as a trial for that statutory purpose. The court also concluded that the broader insurance-contract question proposed by the insurer would have been an impermissible advisory opinion because it could not affect the parties' rights after the statutory predicate failed. Palmer, J., dissenting, would have held that the parties' stipulation created a justiciable controversy that the trial court was required to resolve.