[Susancorless80]

Hi there.
after some guidance on this.

I have after months successfully claimed costs as a result of pot hole damage from my local council (well a third party contractor). The form that they want me to sign includes a nda section which prevents me sharing any of the details with a third party except legal representation or HMRC. However, the claim is based on the local council failing to follow their own documented and legal obligations which hasn’t been addressed by the council. This therefore needs further disclosure to address the problems identified but the NDA would prevent me from doing this.

is this simply a standard clause that they include? What steps can I take to have this removed, is it as simple as asking with substantive reasons? It’s clearly not in their interest for the details to be disclosed to anyone.

thank you

[Santa]

I know little about NDAs but after some research, I can positively say - it depends.

It depends on the wording of the NDA and how restrictive it is - if it is too restrictive it may be unenforceable.

Mainly, I think, it depends on how determined you are to take this further. If you sign the NDA and accept the compensation, they can sue you for breaching it. Whether they will or not, may depend on how "damaging" your disclosures are.

I think that you should either take the money and walk away, or go to a solicitor for some proper legal advice.

[Mark07]

Originally Posted by Santa

I think that you should either take the money and walk away, or go to a solicitor for some proper legal advice.

Hi @Susancorless80,

Welcome to the Community.

I'm no expert either, but I'm inclined to agree with @Santa. Of course, if there's an underlying serious issue then independent legal advice is likely the best route.

Purely speculative, but i wonder if they just don't want people sharing their stories and working out 'the going rate' for their mistakes/accidents.

[Susancorless80]

Thanks to you both, it’s always good to get others opinions on this stuff.

I think they need to allow for the details of the case to be discussed with the council responsible for the highways concerned, I’m not interested in shared the details everyone/ anyone else. If the NDA / settlement was from the council this wouldn’t be an issue (because it would be in their name) but it is because it’s been sent to the contractor to handle and it’s in their name. I’ll explain this explicit point, and i would hope that on the basis that the council are already aware of the claim it won’t be an issue for them to tweak it or advise if the fact.

thanks again