At first, I read this and thought to myself -- "charming, but they didn't really pay $5K for the chair, so much as for their lack of proper legal documentation."
Then I thought on it a bit more and realized -- it was the chair that cost them $5K, because if they hadn't established the paper trail via the e-mail chain about giving the chair back, they wouldn't have had the hangup on 'without prejudice'.
Be careful with email, folks. In the end, that is your paper trail.
Isn't there something about email not being strong evidence in a trial because it is way too easy to fake? At least in Euroland, a lot of things still run on fax for that very reason.
Then I thought on it a bit more and realized -- it was the chair that cost them $5K, because if they hadn't established the paper trail via the e-mail chain about giving the chair back, they wouldn't have had the hangup on 'without prejudice'.
Be careful with email, folks. In the end, that is your paper trail.