Negligence claim against a solicitor
Discussion
After some recommendations to pursue a solicitor for breach or care / failure to provide a competent service and resulting financial loss due to their administrative negligence.
Long story short 4 years ago I was hit by a car whilst running. An elderly lady shouldn’t have been driving, didn’t see me and piled straight into me rather than driving round me (I could see what was gonna happen so stopped but no where for me to go road with barn wall directly on it). She was so obviously unfit to drive then crashed again into a bank after hitting me.
Her licence was revoked shortly after as deemed unfit to drive and insurers admission of liability shortly followed with offer to pay for physio. Lots of physio, scans, steroid injection some shoulder damaged never recovered. After lots of waiting surgery due shortly (hopefully it works but chance may never fully recover). It’s genuinely impacted my quality of life and is a royal PITA!
Was offered an out of court settlement by 3rd party but costs and loss of earnings weren’t taken into account so solictor advised to go back with counter off and commence process to take to court in parallel.
That’s where it goes awry. Basically the solicitor filed paper work incorrectly in 2024 (on deadline day) and despite a request to court for a relief for sanction (none of which they told me about) it was denied by the judge.
Letter today via email (dated a month ago) advising case thrown out and as a result of their process error.
Almost comically that letter also contains admin errors such as a date which should be Sept 24 but they have put Sept 25.
Now looking to pursue a claim against them for administrative negligence, resulting duty of care breach / failure to provide a competent service.
But I no longer trust solicitors I find on the net so looking for personal recommendations of experts from that filed of expertise.
Cheers in advance.
Long story short 4 years ago I was hit by a car whilst running. An elderly lady shouldn’t have been driving, didn’t see me and piled straight into me rather than driving round me (I could see what was gonna happen so stopped but no where for me to go road with barn wall directly on it). She was so obviously unfit to drive then crashed again into a bank after hitting me.
Her licence was revoked shortly after as deemed unfit to drive and insurers admission of liability shortly followed with offer to pay for physio. Lots of physio, scans, steroid injection some shoulder damaged never recovered. After lots of waiting surgery due shortly (hopefully it works but chance may never fully recover). It’s genuinely impacted my quality of life and is a royal PITA!
Was offered an out of court settlement by 3rd party but costs and loss of earnings weren’t taken into account so solictor advised to go back with counter off and commence process to take to court in parallel.
That’s where it goes awry. Basically the solicitor filed paper work incorrectly in 2024 (on deadline day) and despite a request to court for a relief for sanction (none of which they told me about) it was denied by the judge.
Letter today via email (dated a month ago) advising case thrown out and as a result of their process error.
Almost comically that letter also contains admin errors such as a date which should be Sept 24 but they have put Sept 25.
Now looking to pursue a claim against them for administrative negligence, resulting duty of care breach / failure to provide a competent service.
But I no longer trust solicitors I find on the net so looking for personal recommendations of experts from that filed of expertise.
Cheers in advance.
P155flaps said:
Cheers that’s sage advice, I only had the emailed letter at bang on 5pm today just in time for the weekend (nice eh!)
I’ve responded outlining how appalled I am by events, that I intend to take independent legal advice and request their complaints procedure.
As per the post above if they don't offer a swift remedy you will have to follow their complaints procedure and then go via the ombudsman.I’ve responded outlining how appalled I am by events, that I intend to take independent legal advice and request their complaints procedure.
W124Bob said:
As a point of interest really, how did you choose this legal firm in the first place?
Ringing around a few and reviews online.I didn’t actually chose current one. 3 years ago at start of process I had one who was great.
The first firm got brought out and merged with another and she left so was assigned a new one, I wasnt sure about her from start and seem spidey senses were spot on.
I am still fuming about it this morning. Sheer incompetence!
TownIdiot said:
If you haven't done so the first thing to do is to speak to the managing partner.
Make sure they are aware of the letter admitting liability and ask them to make good
They may well just want it to go away.
This. Ask them for details of their Professional Indemnity insurers because you'll be contacting them if you can't agree a settlement. Prof indemnity insurance comes with a big excess, often £25K or more, plus it's expensive, so most firms would rather keep their PI insurers out of it. Make sure they are aware of the letter admitting liability and ask them to make good
They may well just want it to go away.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
This. Ask them for details of their Professional Indemnity insurers because you'll be contacting them if you can't agree a settlement. Prof indemnity insurance comes with a big excess, often £25K or more, plus it's expensive, so most firms would rather keep their PI insurers out of it.
Doesn't most PI insurance oblige you to notify them of potential claims anyway?As above go via their complaints process first.
Make sure your letter is very clear on dates / actions / errors and consequences.
I went via the ombudsman and lost. The reason being the standard expected of a solicitor ( regardless of specialist area / fee ) is what would and average solicitor do. So a low bar.
You would expect an average solicitor to file on time. Good luck
Make sure your letter is very clear on dates / actions / errors and consequences.
I went via the ombudsman and lost. The reason being the standard expected of a solicitor ( regardless of specialist area / fee ) is what would and average solicitor do. So a low bar.
You would expect an average solicitor to file on time. Good luck
Jeremy-75qq8 said:
As above go via their complaints process first.
Make sure your letter is very clear on dates / actions / errors and consequences.
I went via the ombudsman and lost. The reason being the standard expected of a solicitor ( regardless of specialist area / fee ) is what would and average solicitor do. So a low bar.
You would expect an average solicitor to file on time. Good luck
Cheers, sorry to hear you lost.Make sure your letter is very clear on dates / actions / errors and consequences.
I went via the ombudsman and lost. The reason being the standard expected of a solicitor ( regardless of specialist area / fee ) is what would and average solicitor do. So a low bar.
You would expect an average solicitor to file on time. Good luck
I think (hope) I should be fine on proving they fell below a reasonable standard. They filed on time (deadline day) but sent an email rather than via the DCP portal.
You would hope / expect any average solicitor to be able to serve paperwork via the clearly laid out process otherwise no solicitor would ever have any cases go to court.
A few extracts from the letter I received where they confirm they dropped a b
k‘Proceedings were sent via email upon the Defendant’s Solicitors on xxx xxxx 2024 rather than via the DCP portal and therefore, service was not deemed effective in accordance with CPR 7.5.’
We acknowledged a failure to undertake the additional administrative step (the additional layer of notifying the Defendant online of the claim) that prevented the proceedings from being effectively served.’
‘ the Judge ruled that the Claim had not been effectively served. Therefore, the Court dismissed the application and consequently did not grant relief. ‘
Edited by P155flaps on Sunday 11th May 00:03
Edited by P155flaps on Sunday 11th May 00:12
BertBert said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
This. Ask them for details of their Professional Indemnity insurers because you'll be contacting them if you can't agree a settlement. Prof indemnity insurance comes with a big excess, often £25K or more, plus it's expensive, so most firms would rather keep their PI insurers out of it.
Doesn't most PI insurance oblige you to notify them of potential claims anyway?caziques said:
It's possible the court has it wrong - google "Denton principles".
Filing late doesn't necessarily mean the case will be thrown out.
Utter rubbish!! Why post about stuff you patently have no idea about? Filing late doesn't necessarily mean the case will be thrown out.
The original claim is dead. There is an absolute time limit of 3 years on valid issue of personal injury claims under the Statute of Limitation, except in certain circumstances which don't appear relevant here. OP has a judgment dispositively finding that his lawyers did not validly issue and serve on time. If issued on time, a claim has to be served on the Defendant within 1 year of issue.
OP, you no longer have the original claim against the original Defendant for the accident, personal injury, loss of earnings, medical treatment costs and damage to your vehicle etc. Instead, you now have a potential cause of action against your solicitors for negligence in failing to issue the original claim which is now extinguished by statute of limitation (also sometimes referred to as the time bar). The measure of damage against the solicitor's is the value of the "loss of chance", ie the face value of the original claim x the probability of a win/recovery on each head of loss.
You should go to another firm who specialise in professional negligence cases and get them to obtain your original file (yes it belongs to you if you have paid up fees), and then prepare a properly formulated letter before claim to the old solicitors. Do it properly. Also if you have house insurance, the policy may cover this legal cost! Phone them, they may even have a panel of lawyers they regularly refer work to.
Missing dates and limitation is a well trodden path in lawyer negligence, so this case should not be reinventing any wheels. Good luck!
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