Part 36 Offers
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Farag -v- Metropolitan Police Commissioner
This was a claim heard in 2005 relating to proceedings by the Claimant for inter alia, wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and assault.
An offer had been made by the Defendant to settle the matter in 1997 when the claim was at an early stage. That offer was subsequently withdrawn.
The matter proceeded to a trial and the Claimant recovered damages relating to one of the assaults but did not succeed in relation to any other heads of claim.
The Defendant was ordered to pay the Claimant’s costs. The Defendant appealed on the basis that the trial Judge had not taken into account the earlier offer which had been withdrawn 2 years before the trial when awarding costs.
On the appeal the Claimant argued that the offer had been made under the County Court Rules 1981 and that it therefore failed to have any effect after the CPR came into force in 1998. The Court of Appeal held that the trial Judge ought to have taken into account the earlier offer even though it had been withdrawn 2 years before the trial and that it could be treated as a Part 36 offer even though it had been made prior to the CPR coming into force and had been made under the old County Court rules.
This decision does illustrate the extent to which the Courts are prepared to be flexible when looking at offers which the parties have made during the course of proceedings even if they have not been formally made under the current Part 36 regime.
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