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Demand Letter

The letter that states a claim and asks for payment or action before a lawsuit: when one is legally required, what it should say, how settlement communications are protected, and what not to put in it.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Litigation law firms.

What it means

A demand letter sets out a claim - what happened, why the other side is responsible, what loss resulted - and asks for a specific remedy, usually payment or an action, by a stated date before the sender files suit. Most claims do not legally require one, but it often leads to settlement, shows a court that the sender tried to resolve the dispute, and starts the clock on interest or fees under some contracts and statutes. Many people write their own before a small claims case, and some small claims courts expect it.

Some claims do require written notice before suit. Several state consumer protection statutes require a demand describing the unfair practice and the injury, with a waiting period, before a consumer can sue; claims against a government usually require a formal notice of claim within a short deadline (see suing the government); some states require pre-suit notice in medical malpractice cases; and a buyer of goods must notify the seller of a breach within a reasonable time after discovering it or lose the remedy. Missing a required notice can bar the claim.

A good letter is factual and specific: dates, amounts, copies (not originals) of the key documents, the remedy wanted and the deadline. Offers to compromise made in negotiations are generally not admissible to prove that the claim is valid or what it is worth, which lets parties negotiate frankly, but the letter can still be used for other purposes. Do not threaten criminal charges or a report to authorities to gain an advantage in a civil dispute; that can be extortion under state law and, in many states, a violation of the ethics rules for lawyers. A business or person that receives a demand letter should not ignore it, should preserve relevant documents, and should notify its insurer promptly if the claim might be covered (see duty to defend).

Where this comes from

Settlement communications: Fed. R. Evid. 408 and state counterparts. Pre-suit demands under consumer protection statutes, for example Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, § 9(3) and Cal. Civ. Code § 1782 (Consumers Legal Remedies Act). Notice of breach for goods: Uniform Commercial Code § 2-607(3)(a). Claims against the federal government: 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a) and § 2401(b) (administrative claim requirement). Threats of criminal charges to gain an advantage in a civil dispute: for example Cal. Rules of Professional Conduct, rule 3.10; state extortion statutes.

When people hire a lawyer for this

For a modest claim you can write the letter yourself. A letter from a lawyer is worth paying for when the claim is large, when a statute requires a particular form of notice, when the other side is a business that ignores individuals, or when you want to preserve rights to attorney's fees or extra damages that depend on a proper demand. If you received a demand letter, a lawyer can tell you whether the claim has merit, whether insurance covers it, and how to respond without making admissions.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

AppealThe review of a trial court's decision by a higher court - what can be appealed and when (the final-judgment rule and its exceptions), the notice of appeal and why missing it is fatal, what "standard of review" means and why most appeals are lost on it, preserving error at trial, the record and briefs, and what an appellate court can and cannot do with the result.
Attorney-Client Privilege and Work ProductThe two protections that keep what a client tells a lawyer, and what a lawyer prepares for a case, from being forced into evidence - what the privilege covers and what it does not, who holds it and how it is waived, the crime-fraud exception, the separate and narrower work-product doctrine, and how each is asserted in discovery.
Burden of Proof (Standards of Proof)Who has to prove what, and how convincingly, before a court will rule for them - the difference between the burden of production and the burden of persuasion, the three standards (preponderance of the evidence, clear and convincing evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt) and where each applies, presumptions that shift the burden, and why the burden decides cases where the evidence is in balance.
Complaint and Answer (Pleadings)The documents that start a civil case and frame what it is about - what a complaint must contain, how a defendant answers it, what an admission, denial and affirmative defense each do, counterclaims and cross-claims, and what happens when a pleading is late, deficient or needs to be amended.
Contempt of CourtThe court's power to punish disobedience of its own orders - the mechanism that makes a court order more than a piece of paper.
Court Fee Waiver (In Forma Pauperis)How a person who cannot afford court filing fees asks the court to excuse them - the federal and state procedures, who usually qualifies, and what a waiver does not cover.
Default JudgmentA judgment entered because the person sued did not respond in time - the way most consumer debt lawsuits actually end.
DepositionSworn, recorded, out-of-court questioning of a witness by the opposing lawyer, before any trial.
DiscoveryThe pre-trial process in which each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other.
Expert Witness (Daubert and Frye)A witness allowed to give opinions rather than only facts because of specialized knowledge - who qualifies, the gatekeeping test a judge applies to the reliability of the method (Daubert in federal court and most states, Frye in the rest), the written report and deposition that precede trial, the difference between a retained expert and a treating professional, and why a case can be lost when its expert is excluded.
Fee Agreement and RetainerThe engagement letter that sets what a lawyer will do and how they are paid - hourly, flat or contingent fees, retainers held in trust, costs, and what to do about a fee dispute.
Force Majeure ClauseThe contract clause that excuses or suspends performance when events beyond a party's control prevent it, how courts read it narrowly, and the impossibility and frustration doctrines that apply when there is no clause.
Injunction and Temporary Restraining OrderThe court orders that require a party to do or stop doing something rather than pay money - the three stages (temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction), the four-factor test for emergency relief, the bond the applicant must post, how an order is enforced through contempt, and why a violated order is obeyed first and challenged second.
Jurisdiction and VenueThe three questions every lawsuit has to answer before its merits can be heard - whether the court has power over this kind of case (subject-matter jurisdiction), power over this defendant (personal jurisdiction), and whether this is the right place within the system to bring it (venue) - what each requires, how each is challenged, and why a judgment entered without jurisdiction is void.
Limited-Scope Representation (Unbundled Legal Services)Hiring a lawyer for one defined part of a legal matter - advice, drafting a document, or a single hearing - instead of the whole case, and the written agreement that sets the boundary.
Mediation and ArbitrationTwo ways of resolving a dispute outside a trial that are constantly confused - one produces an agreement you can walk away from, the other a decision you generally cannot appeal.
Motion to DismissA request to end a case at the outset on the basis that, even if everything alleged is true, it does not amount to a legal claim.
Pro Bono Legal HelpFree legal work by volunteer lawyers - what the professional rules ask of lawyers, how people of limited means are matched with a volunteer, and why it is not the same as legal aid.
Release and Settlement AgreementThe document that ends a claim by giving up the right to bring it - normally final, and normally broader than people expect.
Representing Yourself (Pro Se)The right to conduct your own case without a lawyer - available in almost every civil court, and held to almost the same standards as a lawyer.
Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel (Preclusion)The rules that stop a dispute from being litigated twice - claim preclusion, which bars a second suit on a claim that was or could have been decided, and issue preclusion, which bars re-arguing a specific issue actually decided, the elements of each, who is bound, the exceptions, and why "could have been raised" is the part that surprises people.
Service of ProcessThe formal delivery of court papers that gives a court power over the person sued - and the step whose failure undoes more judgments than any other.
Small Claims CourtA simplified court for lower-value disputes, designed to be used without a lawyer - and in some states lawyers are not allowed in it at all.
Statute of FraudsThe rule that certain contracts - for land, for goods above a threshold, for guarantees and for agreements that cannot be completed within a year - must be evidenced by a signed writing, and the exceptions that let an oral deal be enforced anyway.
Statute of LimitationsA deadline, set by statute, after which a legal claim can no longer be brought at all.
SubpoenaA court-backed order to give evidence or hand over documents - enforceable against people who are not parties to the case at all.
Summary JudgmentA ruling that decides a case, or part of one, without a trial because the essential facts are not genuinely in dispute.
Vacating an Arbitration AwardWhy an arbitrator's award is so hard to overturn, the narrow grounds on which a court can vacate or modify one, the short deadline to ask, and how a winning party turns an award into a court judgment.

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Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.