--- title: "Without-prejudice Calderbank letter (Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales)" url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/calderbank-letter-personal-injury" type: "precedent" site: "AI Law Framework" id: "a21-calderbank-letter-personal-injury" area_id: "A21" kind: "letter" ai_level: "yellow" version: 1 task_ids: ["A21-T1-R10", "A21-T1-R13", "A5-T1-R6"] law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-23" --- # Without-prejudice Calderbank letter (Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales) > A without-prejudice letter offering to settle a personal injury claim, with a statement that the plaintiff will rely on it on costs if the offer is not accepted. It is not a rules offer. Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/calderbank-letter-personal-injury Law stated as at: 2026-10-23 Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt ## Key facts - Kind: Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send. - Practice area: [Personal Injury & Compensation](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) - Jurisdictions: Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales - AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on. - Law stated as at: 2026-10-23 - Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-23 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. ## When to use it Use when the plaintiff will make a written settlement offer that is not an offer of compromise under the Victorian rules, an offer to settle under the Queensland UCPR, or the New South Wales rules offer already in the library. The client approves the terms in writing. Delete the state paragraphs that do not apply. ## Used for these tasks - [Draft a settlement advice and conference paper](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/draft-a-settlement-advice-and-conference-paper.md) - [Draft correspondence to the insurer or scheme agent](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/draft-correspondence-to-the-insurer-or-scheme-agent.md) - [Draft a letter of demand or without-prejudice settlement offer](https://ailawframework.com/practice/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution/draft-a-letter-of-demand-or-without-prejudice-settlement-offer.md) ## How AI may be used The tool may assemble the letter from the client's written instructions, and the lawyer fixes the terms and decides whether a rules offer should be served instead. **AI may:** - Fill the parties, the claim and the client-approved terms into the letter - Keep the without-prejudice heading and the costs paragraph, and delete the state paragraphs that do not apply - List, for a Victorian letter, the Hazeldene matters at [25] so the lawyer can see whether the letter deals with each of them - Point to the Victorian, Queensland or New South Wales rules offer when the lawyer is choosing between this letter and a rules offer **AI must not:** - Must not choose or change the amount, the costs term or the time for acceptance - Must not describe this letter as an offer served under Order 26, under UCPR r 353, or under the New South Wales rules offer - Must not treat the Hazeldene list as the Queensland or New South Wales test - Must not add a case, a rule or a costs consequence that is not in the instructions or in the sources checked for this letter **The lawyer checks:** - The client approved the terms in writing, and the letter is a genuine offer that the plaintiff can perform - The terms are clear, the time allowed is long enough for the other side to consider them, and the letter says that indemnity costs will be sought if it is rejected - In the Supreme Court of Victoria, a letter sent before the proceeding is open for a reasonable time if rule 26.08.1 is to be relied on. The County Court pre-litigation rule was not opened - In Victoria, Hazeldene [2005] VSCA 298 at [25] is the ordinary list. The discretion takes account of all relevant matters and the list is not exhaustive - In Queensland, a rules offer is the offer under r 353, with the costs consequence in r 360. A pre-court mandatory final offer under s 39 of the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 is a third document. No Queensland Calderbank case was opened - In New South Wales, the formal offer of compromise is the library precedent a21-offer-of-compromise-personal-injury-nsw. The rules for that offer were not re-opened for this letter. No New South Wales Calderbank case was opened - If a party is a child or under a legal incapacity, the compromise is not binding until the required approval is obtained. The Victorian rule read for a rules offer is r 26.06. The Queensland sanction rule was not opened ## Authorities - [Hazeldene's Chicken Farm Pty Ltd v Victorian WorkCover Authority (No 2) 2005 VSCA 298 at 25 (matters ordinarily considered when a Calderbank offer is said to have been unreasonably rejected; the list is not exhaustive)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSCA/2005/298.html) - [Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 (Vic) r 26.08.1 (a written offer made before the proceeding, open for a reasonable time and not accepted, is taken into account on costs if the offeror later obtains an order no less favourable)](https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_reg/sccpr2025433/s26.08.1.html) - [Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 (Vic) r 26.02 and r 26.08, for the distinction between this letter and a rules offer](https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_reg/sccpr2025433/s26.08.html) - [Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) r 353 and r 360, for the distinction between this letter and an offer to settle](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_reg/ucpr1999305/s360.html) - [Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (Qld) s 39 (a mandatory final offer is a different pre-court document)](https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/pipa2002314/s39.html) ## Full text and drafting notes The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/calderbank-letter-personal-injury and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm. *Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*