Wiese v. Dedhia

The offer of judgment rule provides that, where, as here, a defendant does not accept a plaintiff’s pre-trial settlement offer and the ultimate verdict in the plaintiffs favor exceeds 120% of the offer, counsel fees and other trial costs are recoverable by the plaintiff. R. 4:58. In this appeal, we have been asked to delimit the margins of that rule. In particular, we are faced with the question of whether Rule 4:58 covers counsel fees and costs incurred on appeal. We hold that it does, and that the consequences of non-acceptance under Rule 4:58 are mandatory not only for trial costs but for…