The Court of Appeal has held that the claimant was not entitled to withhold from inspection communications that had been incorporated into a settlement agreement with one of five defendants. That was despite the fact that, at the time they were made, those communications had been protected by the without prejudice rule, and potentially also … Read more
In a recent decision, the High Court has distinguished between correspondence which is expressly stated to be “without prejudice” and that which is only impliedly so, finding that the latter category (but not the former) can be taken into account on questions of costs: Sternberg Reed Solicitors v Harrison [2019] EWHC 2065 (Ch). There is … Read more
The Singapore Convention, more formally known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, was signed today in Singapore by 46 countries – a record number of first-day signatories for a UN trade convention. While not including the UK or any EU countries, the signatories do include the world’s two largest … Read more
The High Court has found that, where a claimant beat its own Part 36 offer by only a very small margin relative to the size of the claim, that was not a relevant factor in determining whether it would be unjust to award the claimant the Part 36 costs consequences in full: JLE v Warrington … Read more
The Court of Appeal has recently upheld a first instance decision that there was a binding agreement to vary a settlement agreement: Simantob v Shavleyan [2019] EWCA Civ 1105. The claimant argued that there was a lack of consideration for the variation, as the defence which the defendant had agreed not to pursue was without merit … Read more
The High Court has held that correspondence marked “without prejudice save as to costs” and which described the conduct of prior “without prejudice” (“WP”) negotiations (including a mediation and subsequent discussions) was admissible in an application for costs against the claimant’s lawyers: Willers v Joyce & Ors [2019] EWHC 937 (Ch). The court accepted that … Read more
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s refusal to allow the claimants to pursue claims in unlawful means conspiracy: Elite Property Holdings Ltd v Barclays Bank plc [2019] EWCA Civ 204. While this decision did not involve new law, it serves as a reminder of the difficulties of bringing a … Read more
The High Court has found that defendants who made a Part 36 offer, which the claimant failed to beat, should not be awarded any of their costs where the offer was withdrawn after trial and before judgment: Britned Development Ltd v ABB AB [2018] EWHC 3142 (Ch). Had the offer remained on the table until judgment, … Read more
The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that an offer to settle was not valid under CPR Part 36 as it related only to a claim put forward in draft amended particulars of claim: Hertel v Saunders [2018] EWCA Civ 1831. The decision suggests that an offer made in existing proceedings will not be a … Read more
