Hugh Grant has accepted a part 36 offer in the midst of legal action against the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper The Sun, after he claimed a journalist had tapped into his phone and burgled his house.
Grant has accepted ‘an enormous sum’ from the newspaper after he claims he could not afford to turn it down.
The case was due to go to trial in January 2025 alongside other high-profile individuals such as Prince Harry, but Grant surprisingly announced he had settled his long-running case against the publishers, quoting he did not want to accept the “enormous sum of money” he had been offered to settle – but that a trial was likely to prove “very expensive”. In his statement he went on to say “the rules around civil litigation mean that if I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides”.
What Grant is describing here, is most likely a Part 36 offer. In this particular case, The Sun’s tactical decision of making a Part 36 offer highlights the advantages in litigation of a party using this strategy to encourage a settlement.
Author: Azmi Quraishe, Litigation and Dispute Resolution
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