Question 1 of 7

You act for Cottage Café Ltd ( ‘the Claimant’). The Claimant has brought a breach of contract claim against the Defendant for defective wiring which caused a fire and the closure of the Claimant’s business for five weeks. As the café business had only been operating for four months it is difficult to assess loss of profit and goodwill and this part of the claim is speculative. Three months ago the Defendant made a valid Part 36 offer to settle the whole claim, specifying the relevant period to be 21 days and offering 65% of the total damages sought. You advised that was a reasonable offer and a genuine attempt to settle. The offer makes clear that the Defendant will not under any circumstances agree any alternative costs liability to that prescribed by Part 36 should the offer be accepted. It is now two weeks before trial. All material facts and evidence have been disclosed in a timely manner and before the Part 36 offer was made. The Claimant wants to maximise damages but is concerned about costs consequences.Which of the following statements is the BEST ADVICE to give the Claimant in relation to the potential costs consequences of accepting the offer today or proceeding to trial ? :-

A. If the Claimant proceeds to trial and fails to obtain a judgment more advantageous than the Part 36 offer the Defendant is entitled to recover their costs from the expiry of the relevant period and interest on those costs but there is a reasonable expectation that the court would accept that there are grounds in this case to find that such an order would be unjust. B. If the Claimant proceeds to trial and obtains judgment more advantageous than the Part 36 offer then the Claimant will be entitled to recover all of their costs from the Defendant. C. If the offer is accepted today the Claimant will be entitled to recover from the Defendant their costs up to the end of the relevant period but will have to pay the Defendant’s costs after that date unless such order would be unjust. D. If the offer is accepted today the Claimant will be entitled to recover from the Defendant their costs up to the date of service of notice of acceptance of the offer unless such order would be unjust.