Parliament has recently cleared up confusion over the amount of damages a claimant must be awarded to better a previous settlement offer. The new rule, which came into force in October, is good news for litigants.
The original rule (Civil Procedure Rule 36.14) adopted a practical approach. Where a settlement was offered and rejected and the claimant subsequently won damages higher than that offer, he was right to have refused it. He should not, therefore, be liable for legal costs run up after the point he rejected the offer.
This approach was thrown into disarray by the 2008 ruling in Carver v BAA plc. The court awarded costs against the claimant, Miss Carver, even though her damages award was higher than BAA’s offer to settle. The court considered that the amount by which she had beaten the offer was too small.
The position has now been made crystal clear. When deciding who has to pay for legal costs after an offer to settle is rejected, the key question will be ‘did the claimant obtain more damages than were initially offered to settle the claim?’. This means more damages in money terms by any amount, however small – no fudge, no grey area, no argument: just look at the figures.
If you need clear and pragmatic legal advice, we’re here to help so please get in touch.
Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
This week, initial changes to company law – including the biggest changes to Companies House since it began – will start to take effect. Here, our corporate and commercial team…
In the world of business, contracts are the bedrock upon which deals are built. These carefully crafted documents are a testament to the mutual understanding between parties, outlining their respective…
A recent case has highlighted the importance of ensuring a company is incorporated with carefully drafted articles of association, if there is only one director. All limited companies must have…
Our website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through our website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use our website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies but it may affect your browsing experience on our website. You can find our cookie policy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function and enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. These cookies do not store any personal information. You can block these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
mgref
1 year
This cookie is set by Eventbrite to deliver content tailored to the end user's interests and improve content creation. It is also used for event-booking purposes.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat
1 minute
This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
G
1 year
Cookie used to facilitate the translation into the preferred language of the visitor.
vuid
2 years
Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.