Section 36(personal Injury)

philip

Other side have made Sec36 offer.What does this legally imply?
Do we have to accept and what happens if we don't?

Crazy_Jamie

It's a Part 36 offer. Just a small change of language. If you want to read up about it you can find the details of it here.

But assuming you don't want to trudge through the legal jargon, I'll summarise for you. A Part 36 offer to settle is essentially an official offer made by one party to another. It is made without prejudice (i.e. it can't be used against the party who makes it, and the court won't know about it until after the case has been settled or decided through judgment). You do not have to accept it. However, there are implications if you reject the offer and ultimately are awarded less in court. You have to 'beat' the offer. In other words, if you have been offered £2,000 and you reject the offer, you have to be awarded more than that at trial to beat it.

If you don't beat it then the consequences are in relation to costs. Ordinarily, the winner of the case will have their legal costs paid by the loser. However, if you fail to beat a Part 36 offer, you will become liable for the other side's legal costs from the date that the offer expires (normally 21 days after it is made). Legal costs are often far higher than the settlement itself, which means that in reality if you fail to beat a Part 36 offer you could very easily be paying more than the amount you've been awarded back in legal fees.

Given that, it is important to assess a Part 36 offer and how reasonable it is. Have you instructed a solicitor? If so you need to take their advice on whether or not the Part 36 offer is reasonable. If the solicitor is confident that you would beat the offer at trial, then reject it. Otherwise if the offer is reasonable, or there is a significant risk that you may not beat it, you should strongly consider accepting the offer.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask.

philip

Thanks for the info. The offer has come through my PIS, who I do not have a great deal of confidence in.There are ongoing injury issues but given what Sect 36 says, I may have to accept the offer, as I cannot take the risk of losing the case on court.
I will speak to the PIS and see if I have any room to argue the case.