Orton v Collins & Ors, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, April 23, 2007, [2007] 3 All ER 863,[2007] EWHC 803 (Ch)

Reporting Judge: [2007] 3 All ER 863,[2007] EWHC 803 (Ch)

President: Orton v Collins & Ors

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Orton v Collins & Ors, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, April 23, 2007, [2007] 3 All ER 863,[2007] EWHC 803 (Ch)

Page 19

Neutral Citation Number [2007] EWHC 803 (Ch)

Case No: HC06C03348

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

CHANCERY DIVISION

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 23 April 2007

Before :

MR PETER PRESCOTT QC (sitting as a Deputy Judge)

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Between :

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Mr Paul Marshall (instructed by Shakespeare Putsmans LLP, Birmingham) for the Defendants/Appellants

Mr Geoffrey Zelin (instructed by Blake Lapthorn Linnell, Portsmouth) for the Claimant/Respondent

Hearing date : 30 March 2007

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JUDGMENT

Mr Peter Prescott QC:

1. This is an appeal from a decision of Master Moncaster of 9 January 2007. It raises an important little point of practice: how do you accept a Part 36 offer to settle a case if it involves a disposition of an interest in land?

2. It arises more often than one might suppose. Take the common case of a dispute between business partners. It is frequently resolved by one of them agreeing to resign in exchange for suitable compensation. But the business has an office and he may have some interest in the lease. The property may be a side-issue, or not an issue at all. But it has to be dealt with.

3. A Part 36 offer is a written offer to settle a case on specified terms. If wrongly refused, there will adverse costs consequences later. All this is part of a detailed scheme laid down by the Civil Procedure Rules. Its purpose is to encourage the settlement of litigation.

4. A Part 36 offer may be accepted by sending a notice of acceptance. The way it is commonly done is this. You write out a short document that says you are accepting the Part 36 offer and that identifies that offer, usually by referring to its date; you sign it; and you send it back to the other side. Good practice requires that the notice should refer to the title of the...

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