Hugh Grant settlement proves power of Part 36 offers
Partner Gideon Benaim comments on the incredibly powerful legal mechanism that forced Hugh Grant to settle his case against the publisher of The Sun, in ABC News, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, The Independent, The Law Society Gazette and the Associated Press.
"A 'Part 36 offer' is an incredibly powerful way of pressuring a party to litigation to settle a civil claim. It involves an offer to pay an amount of damages to the other side, plus costs, if they agree to settle rather than continue with the case. The offering party pitches the damages at a level that they believe the other side may not exceed were the court to award damages itself after a successful trial. If the claimant ignores or rejects the offer and then fails to do better at trial, they will have to pay all of the costs of the case – both their own and those of the other side - from the date the offer could have been, but wasn’t, accepted.
"Hugh Grant would have been left in little doubt by his lawyers that the offer was pitched so that there was a real risk that he would not 'beat' it at trial. Therefore, even though he may have preferred to have fought the case, the financial risks were simply too great and he had, in effect, no choice but to settle."
Gideon's comments were published in ABC News, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, The Independent, The Law Society Gazette and the Associated Press. They were also syndicated widely across UK and international press.
