Refusal To Mediate Does Not Always Justify Indemnity Costs
“In my judgment, the Defendants’ failure in this case to engage constructively with the mediation proposals does not justify an order for costs against them on the indemnity basis. To make such an order would involve elevating that factor over others which weigh in their favour. Those others include them successfully resisting a significant part of a claim put at around £4.3m (see the Judgment at [90]-[91]) and doing significantly better than either of the Claimants’ Part 36 offers proposed (thereby avoiding the consequences of CPR 36.17(1)(b)). That is a very different outcome from the one in Garritt-Critchley.”