In brief: Costs apportioned following late acceptance of a Part 36 offer (Optical Express & Ors v Associated Newspapers Limited)

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: Paul Bonner Hughes, associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, considers the case of Optical Express Ltd & Ors v Associated Newspapers Ltd, in which the High Court held, for the first time, that it would be ‘unjust’ to follow the ‘default’ rule in CPR 36.13(5), according to which a claimant who accepts a Part 36 offer after the deadline for acceptance recovers its costs on a standard basis up to the date on which the deadline for acceptance expired, and the defendant recovers its costs on a standard basis from that date until the date of acceptance. The court held that the claimants could and should have provided the defendant with details of their alleged losses far earlier, and that the claimants were thus entitled to recover their costs only up to the date on which the deadline for acceptance would have expired had they done...