A plaintiff who succeeds on a basis not pleaded at the time of a Calderbank offer is not entitled to indemnity costs from the date of that offer. Where a party abandons proceedings for complete want of evidence, and its legal advisers ought to have known before the hearing that the evidence was lacking, indemnity costs may be ordered. When making a gross sum costs order, the court may apply a general discount of 15% to reflect the broad-brush nature of the assessment and the savings to the costs creditor, but may reduce the usual 20% discount where costs experts have provided a higher degree of certainty through their analysis.
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