Solicitor letter has wrong date

biffo2014

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice.

I received a letter from a solicitor dated 20th of November. It states I have until "Friday 15th of November next" to respond or further proceedings will be issued. Obviously thats unrealistic as it is a date before the letter was issued.

Is that letter null and void now? Or does it technically mean 15th of November 2018?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

nuac

......

coylemj

They clearly meant Friday December 15th. Putting a deadline on this type of letter is a psychological tactic, it's up to you whether you respond or not. Using a term like 'null and void' isn't really appropriate as the letter has little or no legal standing.

In some cases it can be appropriate to not respond at all as they may be simply be testing the waters but that's entirely up to you and depends on the circumstances. Many years ago I was a witness to a traffic accident and several weeks later I got this snotty letter from a firm of solicitors representing one of the parties, stating that I was clearly to blame and demanding that that I should respond to a long list of questions. I simply ignored it and never heard from them again. They probably sent the same letter to everyone who was involved to see who would respond.

If you think this may end up in a civil claim then it may be worth taking to a solicitor but if this is about a road traffic accident, do not respond and instead forward it to your own insurance company who will take care of it.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

seamus

biffo2014 wrote: »

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice.

I received a letter from a solicitor dated 20th of November. It states I have until "Friday 15th of November next" to respond or further proceedings will be issued. Obviously thats unrealistic as it is a date before the letter was issued.

Is that letter null and void now? Or does it technically mean 15th of November 2018?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

A solicitor's letter has no more gravitas than a man in a clown costume coming to your door and handing you a balloon with the same message written on it.

The sloppiness of the letter would indicate that it's either someone pretending to be a solicitor, or the solicitor isn't that bothered about the whole thing.

CruelCoin

biffo2014 wrote: »

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice.

I received a letter from a solicitor dated 20th of November. It states I have until "Friday 15th of November next" to respond or further proceedings will be issued. Obviously thats unrealistic as it is a date before the letter was issued.

Is that letter null and void now? Or does it technically mean 15th of November 2018?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

An incorrect date on the letter does not mean the sender can't do anything.

It's entirely up to the solicitors client as to whether or not they want to go ahead with further action.

It's fairly straight forward. "Do what i ask, or we will try make you later".

Indricotherium

seamus wrote: »

A solicitor's letter has no more gravitas than a man in a clown costume coming to your door and handing you a balloon with the same message written on it.

The sloppiness of the letter would indicate that it's either someone pretending to be a solicitor, or the solicitor isn't that bothered about the whole thing.

How sloppy would a solicitors letter have to be to open a solicitor up to some sort of harassment by confusion action.

Peregrinus

Indricotherium wrote: »

How sloppy would a solicitors letter have to be to open a solicitor up to some sort of harassment by confusion action.

A lot sloppier than typing "November" where "December" in intended.

"Harrasment by confusion" is not a cause of action known to Irish law but, if it were, I think the threshold would be a bit higher than a single typo of that kind.

hullaballoo

I don't know is "null and void" so totally off the wall as a description of the letter. It's not the vernacular we'd use but the letter is undoubtedly rendered ineffective by the mistake.

Peregrinus

I don't think it can be "rendered ineffective" unless it has an effect in the first place.

The intended "effect" of this letter was simply to communicate a message; if you don't engage with us over this issue, we'll take you to court. And I think this message is effectively communicated.

The impact of the message may be slightly weakened by the fact that the attempt to set a deadline to underline the seriousness of their intention is frustrated by the fact that they haven't clearly expressed the deadline, but it doesn't really matter; nobody was bound by the deadline anyway.

exaisle

I'd be inclined to hang it on a nail in the smallest room...

Indricotherium

Peregrinus wrote: »

A lot sloppier than typing "November" where "December" in intended.

"Harrasment by confusion" is not a cause of action known to Irish law but, if it were, I think the threshold would be a bit higher than a single typo of that kind.

Hypothetically, say a series of letters with different dates, and proposed deadlines for the same action? At some point this would become some sort of tort would it not?

Say it was to do with something relatively serious, like a home repossession, and a series of conflicting , and as in this case impossible to action demand letters were issued by a solicitor

hullaballoo

Peregrinus wrote: »

I don't think it can be "rendered ineffective" unless it has an effect in the first place.

The intended "effect" of this letter was simply to communicate a message; if you don't engage with us over this issue, we'll take you to court. And I think this message is effectively communicated.

The impact of the message may be slightly weakened by the fact that the attempt to set a deadline to underline the seriousness of their intention is frustrated by the fact that they haven't clearly expressed the deadline, but it doesn't really matter; nobody was bound by the deadline anyway.

It has implications for costs in most cases, no?

If I'm sending a letter with a deadline its purpose is primarily to get the recipient to do whatever I want them to and secondarily to ensure that if (when) the recipient doesn't do what I want them to, I can justify bringing whatever proceedings I've brought without facing an argument that the respondent was insufficiently warned.

biffo2014

Thanks for the responses.

I honestly think it was a letter to try and "scare" me in a way. I obviously can't go into detail but I am basically accused of having possession of "information".

I am probably going to ignore it to be honest.

If it did go to court and the letter was entered into evidence, would it be thrown out due to the deadline date being wrong?

4ensic15

biffo2014 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

I honestly think it was a letter to try and "scare" me in a way. I obviously can't go into detail but I am basically accused of having possession of "information".

I am probably going to ignore it to be honest.

If it did go to court and the letter was entered into evidence, would it be thrown out due to the deadline date being wrong?

A letter wouldn't be thrown out. If you are brought to court it will be on the basis of a formal document such as a summons in which a case is pleaded against you. Do not think that because of a mistake in a warning letter you will get away scot free.

Peregrinus

biffo2014 wrote: »

If it did go to court and the letter was entered into evidence, would it be thrown out due to the deadline date being wrong?

The letter isn't evidence of anything, and is very unlikely to feature in any court proceedings that do ensue. It might be raised in an argument about who should be awarded the costs of the case, but even that is not very likely. And it has no relevance at all to the substantive issues in the case.