| Part 36 Offers - Payment Into Court |
Part 36
Offers - Payment Into Court.
By : Matrix Jones
If you are involved in civil litigation with a party and is locked into
dispute over the value of a claim, for example a personal injury claim,
you can make what is known as a Part
36 offer to that other party in
the dispute.
It is a tactical measure which is frequently used by personal injury
lawyers to resolve disputes over quantum or the value of a claim. If
used effectively it can bring the other party in the action to his
knees due to the effect it has on cost.
If therefore you are ever involved in a dispute over money as in the
case of personal injury compensation and the other party makes a
’Part 36 Offer’
you or your solicitor needs to take
this very seriously indeed.
What is a Part 36 offer?
So what exactly is a Part
36 Offer? I explain this in some depth in my
book ‘The Personal Injury Claims
Guide for DIY
Claimants’ which also provides other
tactics in personal
injury claims negotiations.
Basically, a Part 36
offer is made pursuant to Part
36 of the Civil
Procedure Rules which were brought into effect in 1992 under Lord
Justice Woolf.
Part 36
Payments to County Courts and High Court .
Previously, the procedure existed but was known as a ‘Payment
Into Court’ under which a physical payment was
made to the
court following the offer letter. If proceedings were in one of the
County courts then the payment was made to that particular court.
If the claim was of a higher value than the county court limits or it
was a case involving complex issues as dealt with in the High Court
then payments were made to the Accountant General of the Supreme Court.
More recently you do not need to make a physical payment into court and
a suitably drawn Part 36
offer letter is sufficient for these purposes.
The Part 36 offer
must be sufficiently detailed to enable the other
party to see how the offer is made up. You cannot just state an amount
in your offer letter and expect the other party to accept it without
stating how you arrive at the offer made. The offer would not be
effective in these circumstances and you would lose the main benefit of
a Part 36 offer
which is to protect you in respect of costs.
Costs.
Once an effective Part
36 offer has been made the other party in the
negotiation has 21 days to respond to the offer. He is not bound to
accept your offer and may very well decline your offer and
counter-offer with his own Part
36 offer. If agreement cannot be
reached the offers stay on record until the trial of the case.
During this time the judge is not made aware of the offers as this
would prejudice his decision at trial when awarding compensation
otherwise known as damages. If these offers were to be revealed to him
he could favour one or either of the parties and make an award to
benefit that party.
Judgement
award.
Once the judgement amount is known if this lower than the Part 36 offer
by even a penny then the other party must pay all his own costs and
those of the party making the Part
36 offer. These costs include the
full trial costs and all costs incurred from the date the Part 36 offer
was made.
The burden of costs is therefore extremely high for the losing party
who fails to beat a Part
36 offer. You cannot therefore afford to
ignore a Part 36 offer
and bury this in the files for months or years
before going to trial. All Part
36 offers need to be given the serious
consideration they deserve at the time they are made.
For further
details visit www.personalinjuryclaimsguide.com and get the Personal
Injury Claims Guide for DIY Claimants.
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Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Part 36 Offers - Payment Into Court. In
practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no
guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own
judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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