Blog on Legal Notice
Imagine, you lend some money to your acquaintance which he promised to return in a month. An agreement is entered into but he fails to pay you back. Now, as per the laws of limitation, he has 3 years to pay you back. Before you proceed with a court battle and exhaust your money & time, you plan to ask him once again to pay back one last time by sending a notice to him communicating your intentions and further recourse if he refuses. This is how a legal notice works.
A Legal Notice is a formal legal declaration communicating the grievances of one party to the other. This notice includes all the facts and circumstances of the case and the intentions of the aggrieved party for any mental or physical anguish suffered due to such loss or damage by the other party. This is a communication of intention that if the party did not rectify the damages, then the aggrieved party would not hesitate in proceeding with the legal action.
Importance of Legal Notice
A legal notice offers an amicable way of handling the dispute via different modes of arbitration and parties can negotiate terms, as they deem fit and make the damage good for each one of them. This process saves time and cost for both parties and the courts.
Who can send a Legal Notice?
Any individual can file a Legal notice against anyone whether an individual or a company and even the Government.
Legal notice can be sent in cases of consumer disputes, tenant evictions, disputes related to property, breach of contract, money recovery cases, cheque bounce cases, disputes related to personal matters such as divorce, child custody, maintenance, etc. These instances are not exhaustive but any future case where a person feels that his right has been violated or breached due to any omission by the other party.
Contents of a Legal Notice
It is suggested that a Legal Notice should be drafted by an advocate and on the advocate’s letterhead including the name and address of the respective legal counsel.
A legal Notice includes:
Title, names of both the parties, matter, and facts of the case, sender’s demand & requirements including the amount of compensation sought for the injuries suffered physically or mentally, and at last, a statement defining consequences that if the party fails to respond to this notice within a reasonable time, the case would go to court.
Section 80 Civil Procedure Code, 1908
This section states that if a party seeks to file a case against the government or any public authority, they should, first of all, send a legal notice to the respective public office or the Government explaining the facts and remedy sought. The government on receiving the notice should respond to the same within 2 months after obtaining proper legal advice.
Procedure to send a Legal Notice
- The Legal Notice is to be drafted properly in consultation with a lawyer.
- The sender should get two copies of the notice, one for himself and the other to be sent to the other party.
- The Legal notice should be sent via a registered AD post i.e. where the sender receives acknowledgment of the same once the notice is delivered.
- It is to be duly noted and taken care of, that no further changes can be made once the notice has been sent, and the complainant should not make contradictory statements from the facts stated in the notice.
- If the notice is being sent in matters related to a particular provision of some act, then the same should also be specified in the ‘subject’ head of the notice.
Fees for filing a Legal Notice
Lawyers can charge different amounts for drafting a legal notice and this can vary depending upon the complexity of the case.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that legal notice is important and very effective as it promotes out-of-the-court settlement between the two parties in dispute. This is effective in a way that it leads to quicker results and saves a lot of time and cost battling in courts.
