Parties to exchange mandatory final offers if claim not settled at compulsory conference
39 Parties to exchange mandatory final offers if claim not settled at compulsory conference
If the claim is not settled at the compulsory conference, the claimant and a respondent must, unless the court has dispensed with this obligation, exchange written final offers—
at the conference; or
if the conference has been dispensed with, within 14 days after the date of the agreement or order dispensing with the conference.
If there are 2 or more respondents, the claimant may make a written final offer to settle with any respondent, and any respondent may make a written final offer to settle with the claimant.
However, subsection (4) applies if—
the claimant agrees to make a written final offer to all of the respondents to settle the claim as against all of the respondents; and
all of the respondents agree to make a written joint final offer to the claimant to settle the claim as against all of the respondents.
If this subsection applies—
the claimant’s offer must be made to all of the respondents and is an offer to settle the claim against all of the respondents; and
the respondents’ offer must be made by all of the respondents to the claimant and is an offer to settle the claim against all of the respondents.
Respondents who make an offer under subsection (3) are jointly and severally liable to the claimant for the whole of the amount of the offer if the offer is accepted.
A written final offer required under this section is called a mandatory final offer.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandum
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.