Effect of Calderbank offer

Codent Ltd v Lyson Ltd CA Lawtel 8 December

The defendant company made a Calderbank offer of £100,000 in full and final settlement of the claim to waive its counterclaim for £81,000 and to pay the costs of the action. The claimant refused the offer and although successful in its claim recovered substantially less then the defendant’s offer. The costs judge was wrong to rule that the defendant should get no benefit from its offer because it could have made a Part 36 payment into court; that the claimant had no guarantee that it would receive payment and had been given an unreasonably short period of time in which to accept the offer.