header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
25 March 2016 / Ben Savery , James Deacon
Issue: 7692 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , CPR
printer mail-detail

A spot test on strategy

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
001_nlj_7692_savery

James Deacon & Ben Savery set out the lessons to be learnt from recent Pt 36 case law

A raft of recent cases has underlined the importance of making Pt 36 offers that are strategic, timely and correctly formulated.

Question 1

Can you make an offer to settle for a percentage of liability that could never be awarded in practice and is there a minimum reduction you should make?

Answer: The High Court has clarified that you can make such an offer and a modest reduction may suffice.

In Jockey Club Racecourses Ltd v Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd [2016] EWHC 167 (TCC), [2016] All ER (D) 90 (Feb), the defendant agreed to design and build a grandstand at Epsom. The roof failed and was later found to be defective. The club issued proceedings for the costs of repair and business interruption. It later made a Pt 36 offer to settle liability at 95% of the damages “to be assessed”. Willmott Dixon did not respond. It was directed that there would be a

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll