1. Damage or detriment to one’s legal rights or claims. See dismissal with prejudice, dismissal without prejudice under DISMISSAL.
legal prejudice. A condition that, if shown by a party, will usu. defeat the opposing party’s action; esp., a condition that, if shown by the defendant, will defeat a plaintiff’s motion to dismiss a case without prejudice. • The defendant may show that dismissal will deprive the defendant of a substantive property right or preclude the defendant from raising a defense that will be unavailable or endangered in a second suit. [Cases: Federal Civil Procedure 1700; Pretrial Procedure 510. C.J.S. Dismissal and Nonsuit §§ 24–27.]
undue prejudice. The harm resulting from a fact-trier’s being exposed to evidence that is persuasive but inadmissible (such as evidence of prior criminal conduct) or that so arouses the emotions that calm and logical reasoning is abandoned.
2. A preconceived judgment formed without a factual basis; a strong bias. [Cases: Judges 49. C.J.S. Judges § 108.] — prejudice, vb. — prejudicial, adj.
