pre-litigation or pre-suit
Explanation:
Whole term: "a negotiated pre-litigation legal settlement." I would suggest "negotiated" for "à l'amiable," although honestly those terms are redundant and IMHO unnecessary in both languages. But since there's a redundant term in the French, might as well include one in the English!
This sounds like the very common scenario where Party A (a person or company) has their lawyer send Party B a letter setting forth claims that Party A has and intends to bring, in a lawsuit, against Party B. After a few rounds of communications between the parties' lawyers, and before Party A ever actually files litigation, the parties reach a settlement.
That is honestly how a lot of cases resolve: they settle privately before Party A actually sues Party B.
So this would be pre-litigation or pre-suit, not pre-trial. The term "pre-trial" implies that litigation has been filed; a pre-trial settlement is one that happens after the suit was filed, but before the trial started.
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Note added at 23 hrs (2018-11-12 14:19:36 GMT)
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PS Just as "pre-trial" doesn't work here, "before going to court" doesn't either, and for similar reasons. Physically going to court doesn't happen until much, much later in the process of dealing with/resolving a dispute, well after filing suit. In the US the earliest that you could possibly go to court would be for a hearing on the defendant's motion to dismiss, which, even in a really fast-moving court (and some jurisdictions are known for their speed: google "rocket docket" for more), would still take a few months after filing the complaint.
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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2018-11-12 19:42:06 GMT)
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@ Ivan: Your comment below is a little unclear, since if you are already in "court proceedings" and you then reach settlement, it's not pre-suit or pre-litigation/pré-contentieux. It's just a pretrial settlement, which is not quite the same thing. It is also true, as you say, that one can settle some issues and still go to trial on others. Again, however, unless the issues are settled before litigation is filed, it's not pre-suit/pre-litigation/pré-contentieux.
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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2018-11-12 19:43:18 GMT)
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Here's a link about pré-contentieux dispute resolution -- notice it happens before the filing of any "action judiciaire": https://www.huissier-vosges.com/recouvrement/les-impayes/3-l...
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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2018-11-12 19:48:40 GMT)
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@ BD Finch: I'm not sure you understand how this works. The phrase pre-litigation (or pre-suit, same thing) means before any litigation is filed. It's a phase of dispute resolution that, if successful, prevents any litigation and if unsuccessful, is usually followed by litigation.
I say "usually" only because sometimes the potential plaintiff decides not to sue after all. For instance, if they discover the other party is "judgment proof," e.g. about to go bankrupt, then suing would be a waste of money.
If you reach settlement before filing suit, that's a pre-litigation settlement. The litigation does not need to actually happen in order for a pre-litigation phase to exist (if it did, there would be no such phrase as "pre-litigation settlement"). Similarly, the trial does not have to actually happen in order for a "pre-trial" phase to exist or a "pre-trial settlement" to happen.
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Note added at 4 days (2018-11-15 19:22:55 GMT)
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@AllegroTrans: although I'm not a French lawyer, the www.huissier-vosges.com website above spells out a process that I think may answer your question.
Basically, if someone owes you or your business money, and your private attempts to resolve the problem (negotiations, letters from your lawyer etc.) haven't worked, you can bring the matter to a huissier de justice, who will then attempt to get the debt paid. In doing that, you are bringing the dispute into the legal system, but not yet filing a lawsuit. It is only if the huissier isn't able to get your debt paid that you would file an "action judiciaire."
So my understanding (which could be wrong) is that if you bring your case before a huissier de justice, and a settlement is reached as a result, that is a règlement judiciaire. You haven't actually begun litigation -- that would be the "action judiciaire" that you file if the huissier can't get the problem sorted out -- but you are within the judicial system.
I'm not aware of any such process existing under US or UK law; alternative dispute resolution is available within the US judicial system, but only after you file a lawsuit (once you file, the court will usually force you to attempt negotiations at least once before any trial can take place).
| Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 02:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
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peer agreement (net): -1