Professional negligence partners at Healys LLP

30th January 2015 by

If you believe that you may have grounds for commencing a professional negligence claim against a professional such as a solicitor, architect, accountant or estate agent , Healys LLP lawyers will help you determine the best course of action.

Expert witnesses

There are a number of tests that apply to judging whether a professional negligence claimant deserves to receive some form of monetary compensation. Among these are the need to prove duty of care, negligence, loss and causation.

However, defining a professional’s actions as negligence can be a very complex process. In simple terms, professional negligence is defined as a level of service or care which falls below that which would ordinarily be exercised by a reasonably competent professional.

In order to then determine whether a defendant’s care or service meet this standard of reasonable competence, Healys’ solicitors will usually source one or more expert witnesses who will then, if the case goes to court, provide their impartial and independent testimony.

There are many advantages to this system of defining negligence. Foremost among these is the fact that professionals are effectively judged by their peers, whether they are a solicitor, architect, accountant or estate agent. However, because of all the legal and technical complexities involved, a witness should usually be a person who aside from being a leader in their field of expertise is also familiar with the process of providing expert testimony and evidence.

Professional negligence claims against expert witnesses

In the case of Jones v Kaney [2011] UKSC 13 the court ruled, by a majority of 5 to 2, that there were no just grounds for granting expert witnesses immunity from professional negligence proceedings.

The ruling overturned more than a century of expert witness immunity, dating back to Watson v M’Ewan (1905) AC 480.

Negligence claims against professionals

If you have suffered significant financial loss as a result of the negligence of a solicitor, architect, accountant, estate agent or other professional, the partners on Healys’ team have the experience and expertise to provide you with the best possible representation.

For advice and enquiries please call our professional negligence partners today.