California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Nagaoka v. Ponce, G045562 (Cal. App. 2012):
"Civil Code section 3287, subdivision (a) provides that a party is entitled to recover prejudgment interest on an amount awarded as damages from the date that the amount was both (1) due and owing and (2) certain or capable of being made certain by calculation. [Citations.]" (Uzyel v. Kadisha (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 866, 919.) "Damages are certain or capable of being made certain by calculation, or ascertainable,
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for purposes of Civil Code section 3287, subdivision (a) if the defendant actually knows the amount of damages or could compute that amount from information reasonably available to the defendant. [Citation.]" (Uzyel v. Kadisha, supra, 188 Cal.App.4th at p. 919.) "In contrast, damages that must be judicially determined based on conflicting evidence are not ascertainable. [Citations.] A legal dispute concerning the defendant's liability or uncertainty concerning the measure of damages does not render damages unascertainable. [Citations.] On appeal, we independently determine whether damages are ascertainable for purposes of the statute. [Citation.]" (Ibid.)
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