McGee v Independent Assessor & Anor [No 2]

The appellant, McGee, was successful in his appeal against the Independent Assessor and another respondent. The dispute involved the appellant's application for the first respondent to pay costs of the proceeding below and the costs of the appeal on an indemnity basis. The appellant had made Calderbank offers to settle the proceedings below and the appeal proceedings, but these offers were rejected by the first respondent.

The court was required to determine whether the Calderbank offers made by the appellant were unreasonably rejected by the first respondent. A Calderbank offer is a formal offer to settle on terms that if the offer is not accepted and the party making the offer is not more successful than the offer at trial, the unsuccessful party must pay the costs of the offeror from the date of the offer. The court had to consider the reasonableness of the first respondent's rejection of these offers.

The court found that the first respondent's rejection of the Calderbank offers was unreasonable. Therefore, the appellant was entitled to costs on the indemnity basis. The court set aside the previous order and ordered that the first respondent pay the appellant's costs of the appeal and the proceeding below, to be assessed on the standard basis. This decision highlights the importance of considering Calderbank offers in litigation and the consequences of unreasonably rejecting such offers.