Update and refresher on offers of compromise in civil litigation

I recently presented a seminar to several audiences on offers of compromise under Order 26 of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005, offers to settle under Order 25 of the Federal Court Rules 2011, and "Calderbank" offers under the common law.

The take-home message from this seminar is that the amendment to the offer of compromise rules in the Supreme Court of Victoria to allow cost inclusive offers (now consistent with the Federal Court Rules 2011) has made offers of compromise more attractive, and arguably better than "Calderbank" offers. This is particularly so when taking into account the onus of proof for each: an offeree for an offer of compromise needs to prove "special circumstances" that demonstrate why an offer of compromise should not apply, whereas an offeror needs to prove that it was unreasonable for the offeree to have rejected a "Calderbank" Offer. That is, it is much easier for an offeror to obtain a costs benefit from an offer of compromise than from a "Calderbank" Offer, where the offer has bettered the result.

I've included below the Slides from the seminar, embedded from Slideshare.

I hope you find the slides informative and helpful.