In People ex rel. Dept. of Transportation v. Gardella Square (1988) 200 Cal.App.3d 559, the appellate court concluded that "the original trial date was the proper date to use when determining whether the parties' final offer and demand were reasonable under section 1250.410"; it rejected the contention that an offer made prior to a continued trial date satisfied the statute. (Gardella Square, supra, 200 Cal.App.3d at p. 577.) The Gardella Square court repeated the City of San Leandro v. Highsmith (1981) rationale that allowing consideration of a statutory offer or demand made prior to a continued trial date would "encourage procrastination in making an offer or demand, ... would delay meaningful negotiations, and would allow either party to gamble on a delay in the trial date, which would not serve the purposes of the statute." (Id. at p. 576.)