Is it unreasonable for a plaintiff not to accept an offer to settle their claim before trial has begun?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Harder v Poettcker, 2017 BCSC 1407 (CanLII):

In the present case the offer to settle was made on October 19, 2012, over two years after the action started and nearly three years before trial commenced. The offer was open for the plaintiff to accept until the commencement of trial. Therefore, I must assess whether it was unreasonable for the plaintiff not to accept the offer not only in October 2012 but thereafter and until September 2015 when trial started, bearing in mind what was known to the plaintiff at the relevant times (Meghji v. Lee, 2014 BCCA 105 at para. 112).

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