Description
Pursuant to the acceptance of a Part 36 offer the court was asked to make an order as to costs where the claimant failed to comply with the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol by refusing to disclose documents.
Held: The normal order is that the claimant gets costs up to acceptance by the defendant of the offer unless the defendant can show that it would be unjust to do so taking into consideration all of the circumstances of the case, including those expressly set out in CPR 36.14(4), whether or not there has been substantial compliance with the Protocol and whether sanctions might be appropriate (
SG v Hewitt [2012] EWCA Civ 1053 followed). In the present case the claimant's refusal to provide documentation necessary for the defendant to assess its liability was not reasonable and consistent with the expressed aim of the Protocol and therefore a normal order under CPR 36.(10)(4) would be unjust. Claimant awarded costs up to the date when it refused to disclose but ordered to pay the defendant's costs incurred thereafter.
