Without prejudice . What does it mean

[Anna713]

If someone writes without prejudice on a letter, what does it actually mean? I have received a letter with this on. I was under the impression it was meaningless but now I'm not so sure. Its from someone who is trying to intimidate me and I think they believe if they write this on a letter it cannot be brought up in court. Is this correct please.

You’re not a solicitor by any chance are you op?!

I was under the impression that it means exactly as you say. That letter can’t be used as evidence in Court. Although, actually, not sure if that is right because it could contain something very relevant 🤷‍♀️.

It means it isn’t produced in court if whatever you’re dealing with ends up in a trial

I wish I was a solicitor!

It means you can’t show it to a judge if it ends up in court.

Correspondence that is not disclosed to the court, usually when costs are being decided at the conclusion of a trial, usually used in civil cases

Right. Does that mean someone can try and intimidate me by letter then but writing that on means I can't take it further?

IANAL but I think there’s a world of difference between (say) discussing a financial settlement, in which case this would be very relevant, and making physical threats. I hope if it were the latter that courts and Police would definitely look at it.

It's usually used in a negotiation and means it can't be considered to be an actual offer/agreement/contract. In litigation it can't be produced to a court so the aim is to try and settle a case before the cost is incurred going to court or during. You can have WP letters going the same time.as court proceedings. In what context did you get it?

It means that any offer that has been made in the letter to try to settle the matter amicably can’t be mentioned in court.

if there is no offer made in the letter of any kind, then the letter can be shown whether or not it has the without prejudice marking on it. So for example if the letter contained a threat, you could rely on this and show the letter. But note you can’t disclose a without prejudice offer just because it isn’t one you would ever be prepared to accept.

The context is that my son is trying to obtain a financial settlement after his divorce. He is happy for it to go to court because it is a very acrimonious divorce and his ex wife has already rejected his (imo) reasonable offer. The wife's parents have already tried to blackmail him. Hevtold them to get lost. They have now written to me and my husband with all sorts of ridiculous accusations and included their bank details. I think they think I'm going to hand over the money on my sons behalf. It's all ridiculous because my son is 40+ and his affairs are nothing to do with us. My husband and I are 70+ and I really don't need the hassle. Especially as my husband is not in good health. I'm just wondering if I can do anything legally to stop this and also if this badgering and intimidation may help my sons case in any way.

It usually means someone has made an offer, usually financial, to resolve a dispute or complaint. Without Prejudice means you can accept it or reject it but it can’t be taken into account if it later goes to court.

If they are not party to any proceedings and writing to you personally in their name then the WP heading means nothing and they are harassing you.

. Does your son or his ex have solicitors appointed? If so all correspondence relating to the divorce should be between the solicitors. It might be worth your son appointing one.

It doesn't mention an offer. It's more demanding what they want, if that makes sense.

The letter is irrelevant to your son’s case but there is nothing to stop you from giving him a copy and the WP marking means nothing.

As for stopping them contacting you, write to them once asking them not to contact you again. If they then continue to do so, you have grounds to report them to the police for harassment (though that’s likely to make an already acrimonious situation a lot worse so think carefully before doing so!)

I would write back “without prejudice”, leave us out of it aka fuck off

@Katrinawaves thanks. I was going to just ignore but maybe I should tell them not to contact us. The situation could not possibility be more acrimonious. Its a nightmare.

I wouldn't open any chain of communication with them personally. Just pass it on to your son's solicitor.

Without prejudice only applies to statements which are made in a genuine attempt to settle a dispute. If, for example, someone writes to you threatening physical violence, writing "without prejudice" on that would have no effect.

Thanks. After thinking about it overnight, I'm going to pass it to my son's solicitor to make of it what she will and I'm going to ignore, ignore ignore.

This is the wisest course of action for now - obviously if it continues and you feel personally harassed you can take it further.

Any letter they send to you asking for money is irrelevant, regardless of what it says on it.

Without prejudice doesn’t have quite the wide meaning some people seem to think it does.

To attract WP privilege, there has to be an existing dispute which has crystallised, and the correspondence has to be a genuine attempt to settle that dispute. If both of those points apply then the correspondence is basically off the record and non admissible in court.

However WP privilege won’t apply if there’s certain types of improper behaviour/unambiguous impropriety - blackmail for example. So you can’t act like an ass, label it as “without prejudice” and think a judge won’t see it! But the solicitor will deal with it now I hope…