Litigation- United Kingdom

Following a series of cases and a review by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee, a number of amendments have been made to Part 36 of the rules. The most significant amendment is that defendants will no longer be required to make payments into court in support of a Part 36 offer to settle a case. Defendants wishing to settle will simply make a written offer. The amended rules require that an accepted offer be paid within 14 days (or some other agreed period), failing which the claimant will be able to enter judgment for the unpaid sum and will lose the costs protection afforded by the rules.

The court's permission will also be required to withdraw or reduce a Part 36 offer before the expiration of the initial period for acceptance (ie, a minimum of 21 days), but thereafter no permission will be needed. A withdrawn offer will have no costs consequences under Part 36, but may be taken into account when the court exercises its general discretion on costs under Part 44.

Part 14 has also been amended in relation to pre-action admissions. The amendments deal with pre-action admissions which are either made following receipt of a letter of claim in accordance with a pre-action protocol or stated to be made under Part 14. These admissions will be able to be withdrawn only by consent or (once proceedings have started) with the court's permission. Any party may apply for judgment on the pre-action admission once proceedings have commenced. This amendment reverses the effect of the Court of Appeal decision in Sowerby v Charlton [2005] EWCA Civ 1610 which had caused concern and even prompted judicial comment from a subsequent court of appeal (for further details please see "Court of Appeal Rules on Withdrawal of Pre-action Admissions").

There are also amendments to a number of other parts and practice directions and to the Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes. The protocol has been revised and reissued following a consultation to address issues relating to the time and cost of compliance.

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