The applicant mother brought a motion to enforce a settlement in a custody and access dispute, alleging she accepted the respondent father's August 9th offer to settle.
The acceptance was faxed at 4:57 p.m. on August 22nd, while the respondent faxed a withdrawal of the offer at 5:05 p.m. the same day.
The court held that under the Family Law Rules, the faxed acceptance after 4:00 p.m. was not effective until the next day, meaning the offer was validly withdrawn before acceptance.
The court also noted it would have exercised its discretion to refuse to enforce the settlement in the best interests of the children, as the parties were not of a common mind and the offer remained open only due to counsel's oversight during mid-trial mediation.
