Rejected Offer to Settle Attached to OP Affidavit??

[YoungDad23]

Confused why my ex and her lawyer have attached a copy of her previous offer to settle in her affidavit responding to my motion (Nov 5) for overnight visitation.

Rejected her "offer to settle" (Nov 11) and received her response (Nov 18) with OTS mentioned in her Affidavit (Form 14a) and copy attached as "Exhibit".

Motion scheduled to be heard in mid December w Case Judge.

I thought this is disallowed (Rule 18 OFL Rules). Appreciate any insight/info regarding whether the rejected OTS should have been attached and why her lawyer did it.

Self-rep in a high conflict Custody and Access case for my toddler son for over a year. Cannot afford lawyer after spending $$$$ defending against false allegations "domestic assault".

Crown finally saw through her lies and charges withdrawn with no conditions.

Thank you!

[dinkyface]

Did your OTS have a 'Without Prejudice' tag on it?

[YoungDad23]

I have not served her with any OTS,

She has served me with two. Neither of her offers have contained the text "Without Prejudice" anywhere in the document or in the email that her lawyer sent with the first one.

The first OTS didn't have an expiry date but the second OTS is valid until 9 am the morning we are scheduled to go in front of the judge in December.

A little background, my motion is for Overnight Access Visits and my ex was granted leave to file a Cross Motion for her requests for Sole Custody. Both motions are to be heard on the same day by our Case Management Judge.

Custody has not been decided (even on a temporary basis) to date.

[dinkyface]

Sorry - I misread.

If she wants her own offer to be seen by the judge, then that is her perogative. Normally, you make an offer that is a compromise on some issues, but you don't want the judge to use those compromises against you as some sort of admission. Marking it 'without prejudice' keeps it from the judge's eyes.

[YoungDad23]

Thanks for your answer.

[dinkyface]

I think Rule18 is referring to keeping the opposing party's OTS confidential, because it would be stupid to disclose your own. Not sure, but I think there may be alternate (more appropriate/streamlined/clear) court procedures for what they did.

[YoungDad23]

That's exactly what I thought, that it was stupid do disclose their offer to settle and attach a copy as an exhibit to their affidavit but I just wondered it there was some kind of legal strategy behind it. Off to see the FLIC to ask about it and also to file some documents today.
Thanks

[YoungDad23]

Offer to Settle SHOULD NOT be attached to an affidavit!

Spoke to duty counsel at the FLIC this morning and their opinion is that my ex's lawyer attached a copy of the OTS (that I previously rejected) as an intimidation tactic (or trick).

A quick trip to look at the continuing record verified that both the first and second offers to settle sent to me by OP have been attached to my ex's affidavit of Nov 18 as Exhibits.

Duty counsel advised me to make an oral motion at our court date to request that the judge remove the OTS exhibits and also strike the sections in my exes affidavit that refers to them.

It will be interesting to see how our case management judge handles this especially when her legal aid lawyer pulled this nonsense on a self-repped litigant (me).