# Legal Weight of Letterhead **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166 "2016-09-28T23:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/22 "2016-09-30T01:09:24Z")
Years ago my boss had once been the head of a now-defunct organization. Some bit of legal business popped up 15+ years later, requiring a statement on letterhead of the defunct organization. I just designed some letterhead, and printed the whole thing off, he signed it and all went smoothly after that! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/23 "2016-09-30T02:04:15Z")
Did you use the former boss’s current home address, or the address of the defunct organization, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/24 "2016-09-30T04:04:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Maybe we should more closely restrict access to our company’s letterhead. Something to consider. Nearly all the staff in our Dept legitimately print on letterhead from time to time. i don’t think the access is the issue - I’ve never worked anywhere where access to the letterhead is all that restricted. Maybe the janitor or someone who has a job that doesn’t ever involve printing on letterhead might not have access, but that’s it. But this > [@](#): > > I’ve never been told there are any restrictions or liabilities to using letterhead. seems a little off. I mean, maybe you’ve forgotten about it , but it’s hard to imagine that your employer has never in any way told you that you can’t use the letterhead for personal communications. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/25 "2016-09-30T10:12:24Z")
An [incident](http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/08/03/improper_letterhead/) I’d heard of recently. A state worker used state letterhead for a personal legal matter, with the subtle implication that her department was involved. Result was an “ethics review” and I think eventual firing. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/26 "2016-09-30T13:10:17Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I work in a “huge company” (~5000 employees, locations in \>50 countries) and we have strict standards on templates from everything ranging from Letterhead, logo usage, and even PowerPoint. > > Hope that makes **SpeedwayRyan** feel a bit better. It does, thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/27 "2016-09-30T20:11:12Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > Is the content of correspondence on letterhead legally privileged in any way? In legal terms, “privileged” means exempt from disclosure, or in some case exempt from admission before the court. So no. As for whether it means something if a message is on letterhead rather than stock paper, no, not really. It means the sender is representing that the message is attributable to the company/organization, but there’s no (US) legal rule that says “a company is presumed to be liable for communications made on its letterhead” or anything. It is an informal indicator of genuineness, so it has some implications for evidentiary and agency purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/28 "2016-10-01T05:14:18Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > An [incident](http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/08/03/improper_letterhead/) I’d heard of recently. A state worker used state letterhead for a personal legal matter, with the subtle implication that her department was involved. Result was an “ethics review” and I think eventual firing. Linky no worky. Come to think of it, though, an Ohio judge was disciplined some years ago for sending campaign fundraising letters on court letterhead. That’s a definite no-no. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/29 "2016-10-01T23:07:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Did you use the former boss’s current home address, or the address of the defunct organization, or something else? The original request was sent to the defunct organization’s address but reached my boss without difficulty at his new address, so I just used the old address. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/30 "2016-10-02T00:58:02Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I work in a “huge company” (~5000 employees, locations in \>50 countries) and we have strict standards on templates from everything ranging from Letterhead, logo usage, and even PowerPoint. > > Hope that makes **SpeedwayRyan** feel a bit better. > [@doreen](#): > > But this > seems a little off. I mean, maybe you’ve forgotten about it , but it’s hard to imagine that your employer has never in any way told you that you can’t use the letterhead for personal communications. I work for a huge company (a bank) with more than 200,000 employees. And despite a half dozen code of conduct and other compliance courses every year I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen the word “letterhead” since the late '90s. We just have company provided logoed envelopes in the supply room and anybody in the world (with a badge that lets you in the building) can use them (and a small supply of letterhead paper but I’ve never seen anybody actually use it). I’m sure other divisions (such as in branches) may have more policy related instruction. But otherwise it is just covered by the general “don’t use ANY company resources for personal purposes.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/31 "2016-10-02T02:04:34Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > The original request was sent to the defunct organization’s address but reached my boss without difficulty at his new address, so I just used the old address. Makes sense. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166/32 "2016-10-02T02:16:15Z")
I understand [Ferdinand Demara (the Great Impostor)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Waldo_Demara) would take advantage of letterhead that he had swiped to write his “official” letters, such as recommendations and introductions. They were rarely challenged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-weight-of-letterhead/767166.md?page=1)