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Questioner

When is an agreement final? I am involved in a case against my ex-employer from whom I am still owed salary. My lawyer drew up an agreement including a payment proposal and submitted everything to me first. He asked my permission to then submit this proposal to my ex-employer, asking whether he would agree to it. I agreed with the letter and gave permission for it to be sent. I was completely unaware that if my employer approved the proposal, it would immediately become final and irreversible. Through his legal advisor, my employer indicated that he was willing to agree to the proposal. In the meantime, however, I had begun to have serious doubts as to whether the proposal would deliver the maximum possible result and I made this known to my lawyer. He reacted somewhat irritated to this and indicated that the matter could no longer be turned around. The proposal was final from the moment it was accepted by the other party. In my opinion, however, the text in the correspondence between the two lawyers did indeed leave room for a different interpretation. My lawyer indicated that he did not see that space and did not wish to comment on the content of the passages in question. In a subsequent letter, my lawyer even indicated that he could no longer provide me with legal assistance if I did not accept the agreement. See both letters below. I would like to hear your lawyers' opinion on this. -------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- Agreement proposal from my lawyer Dear sir ……, After consultation with the client, I inform you as follows. Client has full confidence in a good outcome of any proceedings. Nevertheless, after careful consideration, client is prepared to consider an amicable settlement, provided that the content of the settlement does justice to the situation and position of client. In short, the client is prepared to resolve this matter amicably against final settlement on both sides if the net equivalent of an amount of €8,783.20 gross (€5,000.00 + €2,138.96 + €1,644.24) is paid to the client within 14 days of today. The client is not prepared to agree to a lower amount than mentioned above in the context of an amicable settlement. The amount of €8,783.20 gross is the lower limit and in the event of a negative response I have been instructed to prepare the summons. In the proceedings, a claim will be made for an amount of €15,969.95 gross, whereby a claim will also be made for the maximum statutory increase of 50% pursuant to article 7:625 BW, the statutory interest, the extrajudicial collection costs and the legal costs. The client believes that this is a more than reasonable proposal and expresses the hope that the parties can resolve the matter in an orderly manner without the intervention of the court. I look forward to hearing from you within two weeks of today. -------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Employer's lawyer's response to proposed agreement Tilburg, June 10, 2015 Dear ………., I discussed your letter dated June 8 with the client. Although the client also looks forward to a procedure with confidence, she is also prepared to reach an amicable settlement. That has always been the aim of the consultation between you and me. The client considers that the difference between what she was already prepared to do and what is now being proposed by your client no longer justifies legal proceedings. I have therefore found her willing to pay an amount of €8,783.20 gross to your client, PROVIDED that this is to be regarded as a payment between the parties against integral and full financial settlement of the employment relationship that existed between the parties. The payment is made against full and final discharge on both sides so that after payment of this amount by the client to your client, the parties have nothing more to claim from each other. As far as the client is concerned, the arrangement between the parties is sufficiently fixed in this way. After all, it can be sufficiently deduced from the correspondence between you and me and it concerns an all-encompassing payment against final settlement. This may apply even more if I receive written confirmation from you that full agreement has now been reached between the parties and that this is also sufficiently fixed in the eyes of your client. I also request that you inform me in writing of the bank account number of your client to which the settlement amount can be paid, so that payment can then be made in the short term. Please send your written response as soon as possible so that the client can take care of further processing. Awaiting your messages, remain, with kind regards, mr. ……. lawyer

Lawyer

Although it is very close to the edge, the position could be taken that the offer was not final. In the letter from your lawyer, it is stated that you are prepared to consider an amicable settlement. This is, however, in conflict with the offer that is made afterwards, in which it is stated that the proposal is against final discharge.