If you have been left out-of-pocket following solicitor service you believe to have been negligent, contact Healys LLP today for information about making a professional negligence claim. Continue reading →

When you instruct a professional negligence solicitor to proceed with a claim, whether it is against an accountant, lawyer, valuer, or other professional, you should remember that unless your case receives early out-of-court settlement, you will have to instruct an expert witness to give evidence in your claim.

However, although you might do the instructing, it is essential to remember that the expert’s obligation is owed not to you but to the court. As the Civil Procedure Rules state, this duty the expert owes to the court “overrides any obligation to the person from whom he has received instructions or from whom he is paid”.

Because the expert must be paid, litigants and their professional negligence solicitors should provide courts with a costs budget at an early stage in the claim process. As the Civil Procedure Rules make clear, this costs budget should “provide an estimate of the costs of the proposed expert evidence”. Continue reading →

Without an admission of liability on the part of the defendant, a professional negligence claim requires the opinion of expert witnesses who can determine whether the standard of service met the standard of reasonable competency.

Over the years, the courts have done this by interviewing expert witnesses individually and hearing their testimony one-at-a-time. Although this has frequently been found a very effective method of gathering expert evidence to determine whether the defendant meets the reasonable person test, there have been problems.

For example, over the years it has been found by judges that both defendant and claimant professional negligence lawyers have a tendency to “lead” the witness in a particular direction and that, as a result, it can be difficult for courts to gain a clear and broad view of the expert opinion.

However, there is something called Concurrent evidence (also known as hot-tubbing) which was recommended by Lord Justice Jackson as part of his proposed reforms and has now become an option in the civil courts of England and Wales. Continue reading →

As the owner of a business there are likely to be some aspects of your operations that you have to contract out to other parties. After all, a successful and profitable business relies on the delegation of certain duties, particularly when they are highly specialised and a professional level of skill is required.

However, the sad reality is that some professionals, whether lawyers, accountants, surveyors or insurance brokers, can sometimes let clients down, and in doing so may cause both financial loss and damage to a business’s reputation.

Fortunately, Healys LLP professional negligence lawyers are on hand to help you resolve the commercial and financial fallout that arises as a result of the substandard professional service caused by professionals, whether it is attributable to poor advice, unsuitable products, mis-representation, mis-selling, fraud or breach of contract. Continue reading →

If you have been left out-of-pocket because of the negligent services of a professional, you may be able to bring a claim for breach of contract or a claim for negligence in tort. Call 0800 433 4544 to speak to a member of the Healys LLP team today.

Negligence claims and contractual liability

The chances are that you will have had a contract or “retainer” with the professional you are looking to make a claim against. If it was written with sufficient care and accuracy, making clear the scope of duties and obligations the professional owed to you, then this should form the backbone of your claim. The retainer is fundamental to the client-professional relationship.

However, where you made only a verbal or implied contract with the professional, it may be more difficult for your negligence lawyer to make a case for breach of contract.

Fortunately, there is some fallback, as even if there has not been a written contract, section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act, makes it clear that there is a minimum standard of services you are entitled to receive – your professional should act with a reasonable level of skill and care.

In some cases, professionals may seek to exclude liability under the Supply of Goods and Services Act – if your professional is claiming this exclusion, talk to our lawyers to gain some idea of whether this might be legally binding.

Liability under tort

Even if you did not have a contract with the professional whose actions caused you to sustain financial loss, you may still be able to claim some form of tortious liability.

This means that the professional concerned can be taken to have assumed some responsibility – for example, he or she had some reasonable expectation that you might rely on the advice provided, even in the absence of a contractual relationship, written or otherwise.

Although you are likely to be in a small minority if your claim against your professional is based solely in tort, these types of claims are sometimes viable, so speak to Healys LLP today for further advice.

We can help you claim for financial loss caused by negligence

Whether or not you had a written contract with your professional, if their actions caused you to sustain financial loss, we may be able to help you claim.

We have expertise in claims against, lawyers, accountants, surveyors, and more, and are here to help you overcome the financial fallout. Put simply, if you put your faith in a professional but they failed to deliver, you are legally entitled to investigate every possible means of redress, whether this means a claim for breach of contract or claim for negligence in tort.

We have solid experience of establishing duty of care, breach of duty, loss and causation. For information about how we might be able to help you secure some form of settlement, whether through mediation or the courts, call us today on 0800 433 4544.

Many students would like to sue their universities for what they might believe are marks which fail to reflect their academic merit. However, in reality, it is very difficult for a student to make a professional negligence claim against a university, not least because courts are loath to interfere with academic independence. Furthermore, it would be extremely difficult for courts to quantify losses in such cases as to do so involves calculating the likely sum of future earnings – an exercise which will prove largely speculative. Continue reading →

It is often said that we live in a “knowledge economy”. This is an economy where information is prized above all other things. It is also an economy where if information falls into the wrong hands, severe financial loss can occur. If you have suffered monetary loss as a result of a data breach and would like to claim compensation for this loss, talk to Healys LLP about making a data breach professional negligence claim today. Continue reading →

If a person or organisation calls itself a professional, what exactly does it mean, and what obligations does it infer? This question is, in many ways, integral to any claim for professional negligence compensation. Here at Healys LLP, London and Brighton professional negligence lawyers, we can help you determine whether the professional you employed breached its duty and whether it owes you any form of redress. Continue reading →

If your estate agent has provided you with a service that, by all reasonable standards, can be deemed competent, then you will be unable to make a claim for estate agent negligence, no matter how much money you might have lost as a result of your property-related transaction. However, in the event that you have not been provided with a competent service, a professional negligence lawyer might agree to represent you in an attempt to claim compensation. Continue reading →

Real estate agent professional negligence can cause significant financial loss as well as a great deal of stress and inconvenience for any seller or buyer unfortunate enough to be confronted with substandard or negligent service.

Although most estate agents are committed to providing a professional, competent, and honest service, there are an unfortunate few who, through giving incorrect, misleading, or dishonest advice may cause clients to endure financial loss or damaging but avoidable complications stemming from a property transaction. Continue reading →