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The ‘without prejudice’ rule is commonly used to incentivise parties to reach a speedy settlement out of court without fear of making concessions in their own case should the dispute end up in court. If the settlement agreement is not agreed, the court should not even know that it was made.
However the problem comes though when the offer to settle is accepted, court battle averted, only for the parties to later question what its terms really meant. Should ‘without prejudice’ communications be available to determine what the parties meant when they reached the settlement agreement?
According to the Supreme Court recently they should.
This decision could have the effect of either making parties more wary in their without prejudice negotiations, which would be a shame if it prevented settlement, but it certainly means that settlement agreements, once drafted should be checked carefully against the offers on the table.
In his 2018 Autumn Budget, the then Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, announced a significant change to the way liability for IR35 breaches will be dealt with for private sector companies from April 2020.
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The Supreme Court in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd has determined that where post-termination restrictive covenants (i.e. “non-compete” clauses) in employment contracts go further than reasonably necessary to protect an employer’s business interests, it can apply the ‘blue pencil test,’ severing the offending words and leaving the remaining enforceable clause in place.
The much anticipated revision of the discount rate has arrived with the Lord Chancellor, David Gauke, announcing that it will be fixed at -0.25%.
The Hiscox Cyber Readiness report, a review of 3300 organisations, will be a stark warning for CEO’s of SME’s in the UK and in Europe.
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