Examples of professional negligence cases against solicitors
Irvings recover £60,000 for previous solicitor’s negligence in undervaluing claim
Mr A was involved in a car accident in Greece.
Upon his return to England he instructed solicitors to make a claim. A medical report was obtained, and the other driver’s insurers offered £4,000 to settle his claim. Mr A’s solicitors advised acceptance and the case settled.
Mr A felt that his claim might have been worth more and subsequently instructed Irvings.
It became clear that his former solicitors had not taken into account the seriousness of his injuries, or the psychological damage which he had suffered.
Irvings obtained further medical evidence, sued Mr A’s former solicitors, and recovered a further £60,000 for Mr A in addition to the £4,000 which he had already received.
Negligent licensed conveyancer sued for exchanging contracts too early
Mr and Mrs B used a licensed conveyancer to purchase a property.
Contracts were exchanged despite the fact Mr and Mrs B had not finalised their mortgage arrangements.
By the time that the mortgage was sorted out, the completion date had been missed.
Mr and Mrs B’s licensed conveyancer had not warned them about the danger of exchanging contracts without having mortgage arrangements in place. He also failed to advise them about the possibility of using bridging finance to enable completion to take place on the due date.
Completion eventually took place one month late, following which Mr and Mrs B were sued by other parties in the chain of transactions for wasted removal costs, damages, and legal fees.
Judgment was entered against Mr and Mrs B for £30,000.
Mr and Mrs B managed to raise the money from their business in order to satisfy the judgment, but this left them in a precarious position, and there was a danger that their business would go under.
Irvings took on the case, sued the licensed conveyancer, and recovered sufficient damages to save Mr and Mrs B’s business.
Conveyancing solicitor sued for failing to advise on completion
Mr and Mrs C purchased a property off plan.
Contracts were exchanged and a deposit paid.
However on the completion date Mr and Mrs C took the view that the property was not ready for occupation, and so refused to complete.
The seller served a completion notice.
Their solicitor omitted to tell Mr and Mrs C about the completion notice, or the legal effect and consequences of the same.
The completion notice expired following which Mr and Mrs C’s deposit was forfeited, and they were made liable for any loss sustained by the seller on a resale of the property.
Irvings took proceedings against Mr and Mrs C’s solicitor. The deposit was recovered along with Mr and Mrs C’s conveyancing fees, and the seller dropped the claim for any loss on resale of the property.
Solicitors failed to advise on exchange of contracts
Mr D purchased a flat off plan.
Contracts were exchanged.
Mr D then decided that he did not want to complete the purchase, believing mistakenly that he was entitled to withdraw following exchange of contracts and that he would be entitled to the refund of his deposit.
It transpired that Mr D’s solicitors had never explained to him the legal effect of exchanging contracts. To compound matters Mr D’s solicitors did not inform him that a completion notice had been served until 48 hours before it was due to expire, leaving him with no time to raise funds to complete the transaction.
The completion notice expired leaving Mr D in the position of having forfeited his deposit, and being liable for any consequential loss on resale by the seller.
Irvings took over the transaction and managed to rescue the deal. The seller was persuaded to complete despite the fact that the completion notice had expired, and Irvings recovered Mr D’s consequential losses from his former solicitors.
Irvings sue previous solicitor who missed claim deadline
Mr E was injured in a road traffic accident.
He instructed solicitors who failed to progress the claim and missed the limitation date. Because of his solicitor’s mistake Mr E was statute barred from pursuing his claim.
Irvings were instructed.
Initially Mr E’s previous solicitors denied that he had ever been instructed. However evidence was obtained to show that this was not correct.
Proceedings were issued against Mr E’s former solicitors following which liability was admitted, and compensation of £6,000 was paid to Mr E.
