Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Assessing multi‑element Part 36 offers: quantifying each component and identifying the successful party in rights of light litigation (Cooper v Ludgate House [2026] EWHC 484 (Ch), England and Wales)

Published on: 19 March 2026

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

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Article summary

Cooper and others v Ludgate House Ltd [2026] EWHC 484 (Ch)

What are the practical implications of the case?

The decision serves as a clear warning to parties proposing Part 36 settlements with several strands. The court will price each strand independently to determine whether the offer was bettered at trial. Accordingly, whether single‑issue or composite, any Part 36 proposal should be drafted so it can be readily quantified by the court; the tribunal must be able to identify, with confidence, who actually succeeded. Where an offer bundles disparate elements, each must be susceptible to valuation on the evidence before the court. It is not sufficient, as occurred here, simply to contend that the proposal outweighed the differential between the claimant’s damages and the defendant’s figure where no substantive evidence addresses that issue. Parties should, therefore, be slow to fold into a Part 36 offer terms that do not sit squarely within the pleaded claim. In this matter, the defendant’s Part 36 proposal purported to resolve any prospective HPA 2016, s 204 claims that the claimants might bring...

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