Is there any case law where an offer was made on the eve of a trial was not followed by a response?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Haynes v. Fontaine, 1980 CanLII 547 (BC SC):
In Thorpe v. Whitehead, Vancouver No. 36085/74, Verchere J., when the offer was made on the Friday preceding the Monday opening, awarded no double costs for preparation for the following reason: "In my view, the offer given here was delivered on the eve of the trial and it was not made to appear that anything untoward had occurred to upset or delay the plaintiffs preparation for the trial. That being so, it seems reasonable to infer that, by the time the plaintiff could have anticipated a reply to his offer in the ordinary course of things, those preparations on his part would have been fully completed. Accordingly, it seems obvious that none of his preparations for the trial were or could have been affected by his recourse to the rule at so late a date, and it would therefore be unfair to award double costs to him for the tariff item covering that work."
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