What are the consequences of not accepting an offer to settle?

[10] This court has often written that it will usually be unreasonable behaviour to fail to make an offer to settle. The court wrote in paragraphs 4-5 of Klinkhammer v. Dolan and Tulk, 2009 ONCJ 774 (CanLII), [2009] O.J. No. 6370 (OCL): 4 It was surprising that there were no formal offers to settle in this case. It is reflective of the polarity of the parties. It should be a fundamental step in any family law case to serve at least one offer to settle. Parties and their counsel now have a mandate under subrule 2(4) of the rules, to promote the primary objective of the rules; to deal with cases justly (subrule 2(2)). Dealing with a case justly includes taking steps to save time and expense (subrule 2(3)). Offers to settle play an important role in saving time and expense in a case. They are an important vehicle in promoting settlements, focus the parties and often narrow the issues in dispute. 5 There are consequences in the rules for not making or accepting reasonable offers to settle. Subrule 18(14) sets out the costs consequences of not accepting an offer to settle that is as good as or better than the final result. When determining the reasonableness of a party's behaviour in the case, clauses 24(5)(b) and (c) of the rules direct the court to examine the reasonableness of any offer made, withdrawn or not accepted. This does not preclude the court from examining the failure of a party to make an offer to settle.