Costs

It was settled law that the automatic consequences of CPR Pt 36 did not apply to withdrawn offers. However, the court was required to consider any admissible offers to settle. Further, if a claimant should have accepted an offer within 21 days, then, on the face of it, the consequence should be that he was entitled to his costs up to the date when the offer should ordinarily have been accepted and the defendant was entitled to his costs thereafter. Usually the mere fact that an offer was withdrawn after the date when it should have been accepted should not lead to a different result. There might be circumstances where the court held that the claimant had acted reasonably in not accepting the offer within the 21-day period and where the offer was withdrawn before the time when the claimant should have accepted it. In that situation, the withdrawal of the offer might have a very real effect on the order that should be made in respect