what does without prejudice mean?

[borgbaiter]

hi all

just a quick question. what can and cant you do with a without prejudice letter. im aware it cant be used in court, except in some circumstances.

what i need to know is can it be used in evidence to the financial ombudsman service? or in deed anywhere other than court.

hope someone can let me know



borgbaiter

[Guest]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

"Without Prejudice" is used to protect negotiations and any letters marked thus must be genuine attempts to settle a dispute, if they are not then "without prejudice" is meaningless.

The "without prejudice" rule is "a rule governing the admissibility of evidence founded on the public policy of encouraging litigants to settle their differences rather than litigate them to a finish."

Its purpose is to protect privileged content so merely typing it at the head of a letter that is not a genuine attempt to settle will mean the document will not actually enjoy privileged status and will not be protected from disclosure.

What are these letters you refer to and who wrote them?

[borgbaiter]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

hi

its an ongoing claim i have regarding an old mortgage. theyve pretty much agreed to pay the charges for arrears and late payments back. however theres an outstanding repayment of a cashback due to being over three months in arrears although i dispute this on penalties, unfair and improperly applied.

as of today i have 7 days to agree to a full and final settlement of £500. although the FOS have agreed to look into the case.

it was at court allocated to the multi track but i have asked for a stay pending the FOS looking into the case. following a court order for the parties to look at alternative dispute resolution.


thats the super very short version


Borgbaiter

[Guest]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

So who wrote the letters that want privileged status, you or the lender and how far short of the mark is £500?

[borgbaiter]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

hi

they wrote the letters.

charges including statutory interest is about £700 the cash back is £3000 plus interest.

the point is being multi track i cant afford to take it to court. but the fos are prepared to look at it. the defendant have said £4000 in costs have already acrued and they anticipate this doubling if it goes to court. i obviously dont have this money if i loose. so im wondering if the FOS could take the offer open for 7 days and extend it to the end of their process. obviously if they cant be privy to a without prejudice letter i cant ask them.


Borgbaiter

[Guest]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

Since this is not going before a judge, at least not if you pass it to the FOS, then I would not think it matters.

One thing about "without prejudice" letters that is little understood is that only if the correspondence contains genuine attempts at settlement are they generally non-disclosable. Therefore, if their offer is derisory and could not possibly be interpreted as a genuine attempt to settle, then you need not worry as they cannot enjoy privileged status.

As you have already stated that you cannot afford to take it to court, then I suggest you hand over the whole file to FOS and let them decide what they can and cannot read.

[borgbaiter]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

hi


cheers for that im minded to do that. i have one last letter to write first tho.


thanks for your input it is appreciated.


Borgbaiter

[ODC]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

I've found this

Without prejudice

Definition

The basic meaning is 'without loss of any rights'. It is a term used when two parties are in dispute, and one makes a settlement offer to the other. It puts 'without prejudice' on its offer to make it clear that the settlement offer should not be construed as a waiver of rights. Importantly, communication marked 'without prejudice' cannot be used in evidence in court proceedings if the attempts at settlement fail and the dispute comes to court.

In other words never use it with a scummy DCA

[Amethyst]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

Okay stupid question and one I should know the answer to.

If a letter is a proper attempt at settlements but isnt marked WP - is it WP by default ?

[ODC]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

No. It can only be WP if it is clearly marked as such

[Guest]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

This is in fact not true. Frequently the courts have held that the principle of “Privilege” can protect subsequent and even previous letters in the same chain of correspondence. Strictly speaking, therefore, it is not necessary that every letter be marked “Without Prejudice” if it is clear that the communication is intended to be part of the settlement negotiations.

The converse of this is as I have stated above - just because documents are marked “Without Prejudice”, unless they are intended to be part of a genuine settlement attempt they will not actually enjoy “Privileged” status and they will not be protected from disclosure.

[ODC]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

I was of the impression that the Courts would be reluctant to admit documents marked Without Predjudice and that was why some DCAs used the term in their threatomatics

[borgbaiter]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

hi


the letters do sort of have very low offers in them but the main point is that they are intimidatory.


Borgbaiter

[Guest]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

"Without Prejudice" is there to protect negotiations. If no serious intent to negotiate is present then there is no privileged content to protect. If the letters are intimidatory then they need to be considered.

I can see no reason in principle why "Without Prejudice" letters cannot also be regarded as containing incidents of intimidation and you could probably persuade the Judge to consider these letters in the context of the instance of intimidation.

[borgbaiter]

Re: what does without prejudice mean?

hi

as this is the FOS would they be treated the same as a court in regards to without prejudice letters


Borgbaiter