Suing the opposing side's solicitor in Civil law

[Krhuangbin]

Say, as a defendant in a civil case, you had provided a claimant's solicitor on multiple occasions the correct address for service of documents and proceedings for a completely disputed "debt," and also clear evidence that you were in no way liable for the alleged debt.

Then, after sending that conclusive evidence (and thereafter hearing nothing back for some time, after a reasonably lengthy email dialogue,) you discover a judgement (in default) had been registered against you.... issued to a very out of date address (one that had been explicitly confirmed to the claimant as wrong and the correct one given... to avoid that very scenario!)

Then, upon questioning the claimant's solicitor as to why they have done this, after discovering the default judgement, and referring them to the "in writing" multiple new address confirmations, and also the shared and emailed evidence to prove no debt is owed - the claimant immediately agrees to a Set Aside "by consent," pay the fee themselves to the court for this process, and agree the evidence proves no liability whatsoever (completely the wrong person FYI) and that they have no further interest in pursuing either the defendant or the matter in it's entirety.

However, the completely innocent defendant has had a CCJ registered against them for many many months whilst waiting for the court backlog, which has caused material loss (eg. a withdrawal of previous remortgage rate and to a less favourable fix over 2 years, and inability to find another due to a registered and wrong judgement #) plus various other quantifiable and also subjective damages.

It can be proven also that the Claimant received the proof of no liability, as it was only sent once (several weeks before they issued proceedings) and they forwarded it to the court to support the set aside themselves when requested. It can also be proven that the address for service was given several times.

Is there professional negligence on the part of the Claimant's solicitor here (I think clearly so?) and is the "defendant" who should never had had this thrust upon them, in a good position to ask for reimbursement either directly, or failing that, via an ombudsman or through court?

Many thanks

[Tommo87]

I would like to hope there is a negligence claim, but I’m a pragmatist and reality often fails to deliver the goods.

[DaveA8]

If all you say is true, if it were me and I had suffered a quantifiable loss, I'd write a long letter to the firm of solicitors out lining my position and the amount claimed and give them 14 days to respond, email and/or letter. Tell them if they don't settle or make a reasonable offer you will issue county court proceedings to recover your loss ( that might be your problem as to how much you can prove)
I had a legitimate claim for about £7k but added to amounts for my time and aggravation etc, the judge gave a judgement for the £7k but was pretty abrupt with me on my additions.
Your costs are for the claim, the likelihood of them recovering their costs under £10k is tiny but they'll throw this in, again DYOR.
It seems being messed about is difficult to recover so your thing might actually getting to an amount to claim.
Just my experience so DYOR

[Rufus Stone]

Krhuangbin said:

Say, as a defendant in a civil case, you had provided a claimant's solicitor on multiple occasions the correct address for service of documents and proceedings for a completely disputed "debt," and also clear evidence that you were in no way liable for the alleged debt.

Then, after sending that conclusive evidence (and thereafter hearing nothing back for some time, after a reasonably lengthy email dialogue,) you discover a judgement (in default) had been registered against you.... issued to a very out of date address (one that had been explicitly confirmed to the claimant as wrong and the correct one given... to avoid that very scenario!)

Then, upon questioning the claimant's solicitor as to why they have done this, after discovering the default judgement, and referring them to the "in writing" multiple new address confirmations, and also the shared and emailed evidence to prove no debt is owed - the claimant immediately agrees to a Set Aside "by consent," pay the fee themselves to the court for this process, and agree the evidence proves no liability whatsoever (completely the wrong person FYI) and that they have no further interest in pursuing either the defendant or the matter in it's entirety.

However, the completely innocent defendant has had a CCJ registered against them for many many months whilst waiting for the court backlog, which has caused material loss (eg. a withdrawal of previous remortgage rate and to a less favourable fix over 2 years, and inability to find another due to a registered and wrong judgement #) plus various other quantifiable and also subjective damages.

It can be proven also that the Claimant received the proof of no liability, as it was only sent once (several weeks before they issued proceedings) and they forwarded it to the court to support the set aside themselves when requested. It can also be proven that the address for service was given several times.

Is there professional negligence on the part of the Claimant's solicitor here (I think clearly so?) and is the "defendant" who should never had had this thrust upon them, in a good position to ask for reimbursement either directly, or failing that, via an ombudsman or through court?

Many thanks

You appear to have a quantifiable loss negligence claim against them. First is to make a formal complaint to the firm. If they reject then you can make a county court claim against them.

[Martin315]

Rufus Stone said:

You appear to have a quantifiable loss negligence claim against them. First is to make a formal complaint to the firm. If they reject then you can make a county court claim against them.

Unlikely to succeed on a negligence claim as they didn’t owe you a duty of care.

Rather than waste time and money pursuing a negligence claim, go through their grievance procedure or, if they don’t have one, write to the managing or senior partner giving them a time period to resolve this, failing which you will report to the SRA for professional misconduct.

[LimmerickLad]

Martin315 said:

Rufus Stone said:

You appear to have a quantifiable loss negligence claim against them. First is to make a formal complaint to the firm. If they reject then you can make a county court claim against them.

Unlikely to succeed on a negligence claim as they didn’t owe you a duty of care.

Rather than waste time and money pursuing a negligence claim, go through their grievance procedure or, if they don’t have one, write to the managing or senior partner giving them a time period to resolve this, failing which you will report to the SRA for professional misconduct.

Can you use their grievence procedure if you are not a client or ex-client?

[MBVitoria]

You don't have any legal grounds to sue the other side's solicitor.

[BlackTails]

Krhuangbin said:

Is there professional negligence on the part of the Claimant's solicitor here (I think clearly so?) and is the "defendant" who should never had had this thrust upon them, in a good position to ask for reimbursement either directly, or failing that, via an ombudsman or through court?

Many thanks

The short answer to your question (can the misnamed defendant recover damages from the claimant’s solicitor) is no. The claimant’s solicitor owes duties to their client. Those are incompatible with the imposition of an additional to the defendant.

D’s options are to report the C’s sol to the SRA (already mentioned); and to look into suing C for malicious prosecution, or perhaps libel, or some more obscure claim that falls under the broad head of “economic torts”. Not really my area, but I wouldn’t go spending the expected damages just yet though.

Whether C can lay off the money value of that claim onto their solicitors is a matter between C and their sols.

[KungFuPanda]

Martin315 said:

Rufus Stone said:

You appear to have a quantifiable loss negligence claim against them. First is to make a formal complaint to the firm. If they reject then you can make a county court claim against them.

Unlikely to succeed on a negligence claim as they didn’t owe you a duty of care.

Rather than waste time and money pursuing a negligence claim, go through their grievance procedure or, if they don’t have one, write to the managing or senior partner giving them a time period to resolve this, failing which you will report to the SRA for professional misconduct.

I think you’ll find it’s the other way round. There is no contract between the Defendant and the Claimant’s solicitors so they won’t be relying on any grievance procedure.

The Claimant’s solicitor has a duty of care to serve the Claim Form on the correct last known address and not have a CCJ registered against the Defendant due to an incorrect address for service.

[Jeremy-75qq8]

Also ask for details of their insurers and confirmation they have been informed of your claim.

This is the last thing they want and sometimes helps bring them round.

I did an sra claim. I lost. The reason. The specialty property solicitor ( all over their web site as to how great they were ) was only required to act to the level of an average solicitor and in their view an average solicitor would not have investigated further even though I told them explicitly of the issue I wanted investigated.

I would not hold your breath that the sra will deliver !

[DaveA8]

Whatever the claim is for, the first thing is to be able to quantify the loss suffered and how it arose. Also like everything the devil is in the detail, unless there is clear proof or no reasonable excuse, they will claim innocent error or unfortunate chain of events that could not be reasonably foreseen.
The very fact the OP is on here asking means they are ill suited to move this forward themselves and getting a legal person involved is most likely throwing good money after bad.

[Martin315]

KungFuPanda said:

Martin315 said:

Rufus Stone said:

You appear to have a quantifiable loss negligence claim against them. First is to make a formal complaint to the firm. If they reject then you can make a county court claim against them.

Unlikely to succeed on a negligence claim as they didn’t owe you a duty of care.

Rather than waste time and money pursuing a negligence claim, go through their grievance procedure or, if they don’t have one, write to the managing or senior partner giving them a time period to resolve this, failing which you will report to the SRA for professional misconduct.

I think you’ll find it’s the other way round. There is no contract between the Defendant and the Claimant’s solicitors so they won’t be relying on any grievance procedure.

The Claimant’s solicitor has a duty of care to serve the Claim Form on the correct last known address and not have a CCJ registered against the Defendant due to an incorrect address for service.

This is wrong.

The duty of care is owed to their client. They do not owe a duty of care to anyone else.

However they are required to abide by professional standards and if they do not do so a complaint can be made to the SRA. It is quite possible to invoke to invoke the firm’s grievance procedure first, which may result in a resolution without involving the SRA. If it doesn’t, involve the SRA.