In a proprietary estoppel case where the successful party was ‘said to have been unreasonable in their approach to mediation’, the Court finds ‘There can be no quarrel with the idea that parties, in litigation, should make reasonable efforts to settle… That, however, does not compel, or require, a litigant, confronted by a wholly unreasonable offer, to waste time and cost with dealing with such an offer. Such an obligation would simply be wasteful as to time and cost and, if enforced by way of a costs penalty, would run the real risk that parties would feel themselves, for fear of penalty, compelled to settle unfounded litigation…’: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2025/2853
Charles Cooper | Barrister 