As a business owner, you may, at some stage, disagree with another party when carrying out business. Where this occurs, you could find yourself in a commercial dispute. Whilst it is encouraged that you make a genuine attempt to resolve a business dispute with settlement discussions rather than going to court, sometimes litigation becomes the only option. If so, it is crucial that you understand the prejudice rule for written communication, which includes terms such as \u2018without prejudice\u2019 and \u2018without prejudice save as to costs\u2019. This article will explain what ‘without prejudice save as to costs\u2019 means for your commercial dispute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you are party to a commercial dispute, you will usually try to avoid litigation. Instead, you and the other party may look to resolve the dispute out of court via alternative dispute resolution<\/a> (ADR), which includes methods such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naturally, you and the party will engage in written correspondence with each other during the resolution process. However, if your efforts to resolve the dispute fail, the parties may end up in court proceedings. Where this occurs, any correspondence you have labelled as \u2018without prejudice\u2019 cannot legally be disclosed in commercial litigation and cannot be used as evidence. This is both in terms of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, your lawyer may mark some correspondence as \u2018open\u2019, which can be disclosed in court proceedings. This will usually include documents where liability is being discussed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Correspondence marked \u2018without prejudice\u2019 also means that it cannot be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that the effect of using \u2018without prejudice\u2019 on correspondence only counts when you are genuinely trying to settle the dispute out of court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n You may choose to use the term \u2018without prejudice\u2019 to allow yourself to speak freely about the disagreement. This can ensure transparency and may help you resolve the dispute more efficiently. It also means you do not need to admit liability when negotiating with the other party.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parties to a commercial dispute may attempt to resolve the dispute before any potential court litigation and mark their correspondence instead as \u2018without prejudice save as to costs\u2019. This means that usually, the correspondence cannot legally be mentioned during following court proceedings but can be once a judgment has been made. In particular, the court can use the information to decide who will bear the litigation costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Continue reading this article below the form\n <\/i>\n<\/a>\n\n
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What is Without Prejudice Save as to Costs? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n