Avoiding Legal Traps in Settlement Negotiations

In litigation, you will almost certainly be involved in settlement negotiations at some point. However, most people, when approaching settlement negotiations, usually focus solely on how to get the best deal and forget to keep their guard up in the event negotiations fail. As a result, people tend to fall into legal traps set by the opposing party during mediation or informal discussions and lose their case later. It should always be kept in mind that Vietnamese law currently has no protection over communications made during settlement negotiations as in some common law countries. This means that any statements you make during settlement negotiations can be later used against you. Generally, there are two common ways that your settlement communications may harm your case:

• They can be interpreted as a partial admission of liability, providing the opposing party a reset of their statute of limitations timeline for filing a lawsuit. This may potentially destroy your defense based on the statute of limitations.
• The information and documents you provide to the opposing parties can be later used as evidence against you. As a result, it is often difficult for you to challenge such evidence (since you are the one providing such evidence in the first place).

Overall, any misstep in settlement negotiations can greatly undermine your case or defense. Thus, it is prudent to always keep you guard up during any communications with the opposing party.

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