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When you appoint a personal injury solicitor, it is assumed and expected that the service they will provide will be of the standard required to achieve the best possible result for you. This is an entirely legitimate expectation when instructing a qualified professional. However, occasionally, professionals can make mistakes or fail to provide the level of service that you deserve.
Professional negligence can happen with solicitors handling personal injury claims on your behalf. They may provide incorrect advice or make errors or omissions whilst handling your case. This may lead to you suffering a financial loss as a result. We are experts in identifying where other solicitors have been negligent in pursuing a personal injury claim.
If you feel that your solicitor has made mistakes or omissions when pursuing your personal injury claim, or has advised you incorrectly, and that this has resulted in you being under compensated or not being compensated at all, it may be possible to pursue a professional negligence claim against your solicitor. We describe below a number of instances in which your solicitor may have been negligent in their approach and if you feel that any of these scenarios may apply to you, please contact us on the number below.
We understand that you may be hesitant about appointing another solicitor when you feel let down as a result of your past experience. However, you can rest assured that we are well placed to assess a professional negligence claim due to our strong track record in the personal injury field. We have achieved significant settlements for our clients in the personal injury field, handling extremely serious accident, injury and fatality cases.
Our approach is to work with you, side by side, to assess whether a professional negligence claim can be brought. You could have a claim against your previous solicitor if any of the following occurred:
If your solicitor has failed to properly consider all of your funding options, you may have had deductions from your compensation which were not necessary. For example, if you had legal expense insurance cover in place at the time of your accident, you may have been able to avoid deductions from your compensation.
Your solicitor may have been negligent if they have not collected sufficient witness evidence or expert opinion. If your claim has been unsuccessful as a result of your solicitor’s failure to obtain all of the necessary evidence in support of your case, you may have a claim for professional negligence against them.
The general time limit for making a personal injury claim is 3 years from the accident date, if you are 18 or over at the time of the accident. If you are under 18, it is 3 years from the date of your 18th birthday. If the accident occurred outside of the UK, there are various other time limits which could apply to your case, some of which are less than 3 years. If court proceedings have not been commenced within the relevant time limit, and you have lost your opportunity to claim as a result of this, you may have a claim for professional negligence.
In addition, once court proceedings have been commenced, your solicitor has 4 months to serve court documents in support of your claim. If they failed to do this (even if they started the claim on time) this too may have prevented your claim from proceeding and may mean that you are able to bring a claim for professional negligence against them.
If your solicitor did commence court proceedings on your behalf but then later missed an important court deadline, which resulted in your claim being compromised, either because you were not allowed to rely on a certain piece of evidence or because your claim was dismissed completely, you may be entitled to compensation for professional negligence.
If your solicitor unreasonably advised you to proceed with a claim which did not have reasonable prospects of success and you have suffered financially because of this (either due to paying your own solicitor’s legal costs or your opponent’s legal costs), this may constitute professional negligence.
Due to inexperience, your solicitor may have failed to appreciate the severity of the injuries that you sustained or the long term effects of your injuries. They may not have built into your case the effect on your job prospects or your care needs, for example. Alternatively, they may have simply undervalued the award for your injuries.
Your solicitor’s failure to consider all possible heads of loss could lead to you accepting a settlement offer in a substantially lower amount than the full value of your claim. Unfortunately, once settlement has been agreed with an opponent, it is not possible to return to them for additional compensation if these failures come to light. If you feel that your solicitor has undervalued your claim or has failed to include certain heads of loss in your claim, and that you have been under compensated as a result of this, you may be able to pursue a professional negligence claim against your solicitor for the additional compensation which you are entitled to.
If you feel that you have been let down by a solicitor or legal advisor during the course of a personal injury claim, please contact us today on 01616 966 229 for an initial discussion to determine whether you may have a claim or, alternatively, complete our online enquiry form and a member of the team will contact you directly.
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