1. As a defendant of a claim for a liquidated sum of money, if I partially admit the liability of a plaintiff's claim, what are the differences between (1) admitting the partial amount via Form 16 at the pleading stage (in pursuant of order 13A), and (2) offering that partial amount as a sanctioned payment to the plaintiff via Form 23 (in pursuant of order 22)?

1. As a defendant of a claim for a liquidated sum of money, if I partially admit the liability of a plaintiff's claim, what are the differences between (1) admitting the partial amount via Form 16 at the pleading stage (in pursuant of order 13A), and (2) offering that partial amount as a sanctioned payment to the plaintiff via Form 23 (in pursuant of order 22)?

Making an admission pursuant to Order 13A usually was made an early stage of the proceedings, i.e. before the service of your defence.  Therefore, if the plaintiff accepts the admission under Order 13A, only a fixed amount of legal costs will be awarded by the Court and taxation of costs is unnecessary.

Also, when you make the admission under Order 13A, you do not need to make payment into Court, and you will only be required to pay the amount once the Court entered judgment against you.

There is also no prescribed deadline for the plaintiff to accept the defendant’s admission under Order 13A.  However, if the plaintiff does not respond to the Form 16 filed by the defendant (by filing his Forms 16A or 16B, depending on the case), the legal proceedings will be stayed in the meantime.

Conversely, when you make a sanctioned payment under Order 22, you need to make the payment into court upfront.

Upon the defendant’s service of the notice of sanctioned payment, the plaintiff generally will have 28 days to accept it, otherwise he will need the Court’s leave. If the plaintiff accepts the sanctioned payment within the prescribed time, he will be entitled to costs of the proceedings up to the date of acceptance, unless the Court otherwise orders.  But the Court will not award a fixed amount of costs, and such costs may need to be taxed if not agreed.

Finally, in case of the non-acceptance of offer by the plaintiff, the stipulated consequences under Order 22 (i.e. if the defendant’s sanctioned payment is not accepted by the plaintiff, and the Plaintiff fails to obtain a judgment better than the payment, the Plaintiff may have to pay the Defendant’s costs on an indemnity basis and enhanced interest (up to 10% above judgment rate etc.)) will only apply in the sanctioned payment, but not admission under Order 13A.