United National Insurance Company v. Elite Ready-Mix, LLC
- Thomas Hixson
- 3:25-cv-08540
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
United National Insurance v. Elite Ready-Mix: Judge Hixson granted United’s motion to add prejudgment interest to its $5 million judgment.
United National Insurance Company receives an additional $352,054.02 in prejudgment interest, and the judgment against Elite Ready-Mix, LLC, will be amended to reflect that award.
What happened
United National Insurance Company sued Elite Ready-Mix, LLC, arguing that United had no duty to indemnify Elite under their insurance contract. The court had previously granted summary judgment for United and entered a $5 million judgment.
United then asked the court to alter the judgment by adding prejudgment interest, which compensates a party for the time between when damages became certain and when judgment was entered. Elite did not respond to the motion.
Judge Hixson granted United’s motion. He awarded simple interest at 10% per year on $5 million from December 3, 2025, through August 17, 2026, totaling $352,054.02, and ordered an amended judgment.
The detailed version
- United National Insurance Company v. Elite Ready-Mix, LLC · No. 3:25-cv-08540
- Thomas Hixson
- Sept. 14, 2026
Background
United National Insurance Company brought an insurance action against Elite Ready-Mix, LLC, alleging that United had no duty to indemnify Elite under the parties’ insurance contract. On August 14, 2026, the court granted summary judgment for United. On August 17, 2026, the court entered judgment for United in the amount of $5,000,000.
Motion and Legal Standard
United moved to alter the judgment to add prejudgment interest. Prejudgment interest is interest awarded for the period before judgment. Because the case was in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, the court applied state law to the prejudgment-interest issue. The court applied California law, including provisions concerning interest on damages that are certain or capable of being made certain and a 10% annual rate for contract actions when the contract does not specify a legal interest rate.
Elite did not file a response to United’s motion.
Ruling
The court agreed that United was entitled to prejudgment interest at 10% per year. It GRANTS United’s Motion to Alter Judgment to Add Prejudgment Interest and sets simple interest on the $5,000,000 damages award for the period from December 3, 2025, when United paid $5 million on Elite’s behalf, through August 17, 2026, when judgment was entered.
The court calculated daily prejudgment interest of $1,369.86 and total prejudgment interest of $352,054.02. It stated that it would issue an amended judgment reflecting the award.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.