Starting a Small Claim (20:V): Difference between revisions
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Starting a Small Claim (20:V) (view source)
Revision as of 22:33, 21 December 2021
, 21 December 2021→B. Settlement Letter
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The fastest and least expensive way to resolve a dispute is to tell the other person what you are claiming from them and why you are claiming it. If the other person agrees with the amount or responds in a manner that leads to a settlement, both parties will save the time, effort, expense, and uncertainty of a lawsuit. | The fastest and least expensive way to resolve a dispute is to tell the other person what you are claiming from them and why you are claiming it. If the other person agrees with the amount or responds in a manner that leads to a settlement, both parties will save the time, effort, expense, and uncertainty of a lawsuit. | ||
Good faith attempts to settle may involve concessions and admissions of liability. For example, a claimant may offer to settle for less than the claim to account for the cost, time investment, and risk of going to trial. A defendant, for example, may admit liability but dispute the amount owed. Whenever parties can agree on certain points, the likelihood of settlement increases. | |||
Because of the strong public interest in settlement, these bona fide settlement attempts are protected by settlement privilege. This means that, if the matter is not settled, any reductions in the claim or admissions made disappear and cannot be used against the party who made them (''Schetky v Cochrane'', [1918] 1 WWR 821 (BCCA); ''Greenwood v Fitts'' (1961), 29 DLR (2d) 260 (BCCA)). It is prudent to include the words “WITHOUT PREJUDICE” in correspondence involving bona fide attempts to settle to indicate that the party sending the document wishes to rely on settlement privilege; settlement privilege will still apply, however, even if “WITHOUT PREJUDICE” is not included. | Because of the strong public interest in settlement, these bona fide settlement attempts are protected by settlement privilege. This means that, if the matter is not settled, any reductions in the claim or admissions made disappear and cannot be used against the party who made them (''Schetky v Cochrane'', [1918] 1 WWR 821 (BCCA); ''Greenwood v Fitts'' (1961), 29 DLR (2d) 260 (BCCA)). It is prudent to include the words “WITHOUT PREJUDICE” in correspondence involving bona fide attempts to settle to indicate that the party sending the document wishes to rely on settlement privilege; settlement privilege will still apply, however, even if “WITHOUT PREJUDICE” is not included. | ||