Indemnity costs to defendant

Excelsior Commercial and Industrial Holdings Ltd v Salisbury Hamer Aspden & Johnson (a firm) (CA The Independent 18 June)

Although CPR 36.21 makes a provision for costs on the indemnity basis to a claimant who has done better than his Part 36 offer, CPR 36.20 makes no similar provision for awarding costs on the indemnity basis to a defendant who has made a payment into court which is not beaten. For a defendant to obtain costs on the indemnity basis there must be circumstances which take the case out of the norm, which there were in this case.