Clause in full and finall settlement letter

LouiseStewartSmith

We had an international removal where many items of furniture and ornaments were damaged and/or smashed. We have been offered compensation in full and final settlement for the damage but they are including a statement that we will not post any negative reviews regarding this company. I am happy to accept the compensation in light of the cost of repair to the damaged items but surely they cannot remove my right of free speech when not satisfied with the service given?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards

Louise

TELLIT01

They are giving you a conditional offer, the condition being that you don't give a negative review.  If you are unwilling to accept that you will need to look at alternative solutions such as taking the company to court.

Ergates

They can write any clause they like in the settlement - as long as it isn't illegal - it's up to you whether or not your want to accept that, or if you want to fight further.

Aylesbury_Duck

They're not removing your right of free speech.  You can write any review you like but you'd have to find other means to recover your losses if you did so.

The choice is yours.

Sandtree

LouiseStewartSmith said:

We had an international removal where many items of furniture and ornaments were damaged and/or smashed. We have been offered compensation in full and final settlement for the damage but they are including a statement that we will not post any negative reviews regarding this company. I am happy to accept the compensation in light of the cost of repair to the damaged items but surely they cannot remove my right of free speech when not satisfied with the service given?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards

Louise

Freedom of speech is often totally misunderstood... but yes, they can make a conditional offer and you are free to accept it or reject it. If you choose to reject it you have to consider how you are going to recover your losses which may be more difficult if you are no longer based in the same legal jurisdiction as the removal firm. 

Undervalued

LouiseStewartSmith said:

We had an international removal where many items of furniture and ornaments were damaged and/or smashed. We have been offered compensation in full and final settlement for the damage but they are including a statement that we will not post any negative reviews regarding this company. I am happy to accept the compensation in light of the cost of repair to the damaged items but surely they cannot remove my right of free speech when not satisfied with the service given?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards

Louise

They are not.

You are giving up your "right of free speech" if (and only if) you choose to accept the offer currently on the table. 

You can refuse and try an agree an alternative offer. If you can't agree something acceptable to both parties your only option would be to take them to court.

This is no different to, for example, a settlement agreement with an employer rather than going to an employment tribunal. Virtually all settlement agreements have a clause preventing both parties from speaking ill of the other. If they can't agree and it goes to a tribunal one side or other wins, usually there is some compensation but both are free to slag the other off to their hearts content, obviously without deformation or libel!