Professional Negligence Claims Arising From Personal Injury
This is a guide to the eligibility criteria for making professional negligence claims arising from personal injury cases. Professionals have a duty of care towards you as their client to provide a service that meets a reasonable standard. Should they breach this duty of care and cause you to suffer from losses, this would be professional negligence. On the basis of this, you could make a professional negligence claim with the aim of restoring yourself to the position you would have been in if the negligence had not occurred.
bb The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the regulators of solicitors and law firms in England and Wales, lays out a Code of Conduct describing the standards of professionalism expected from solicitors. This includes complying with the court and ensuring the services provided to clients are competent and delivered in a timely manner.
Continue reading this guide for answers to questions such as ‘Can you claim compensation for professional negligence?’ and ‘What can you claim for professional negligence?’. We will also explain what it would mean for you and your claim to enter into a No Win No Fee agreement with a solicitor.
In addition to learning about professional negligence claims by reading this guide, you can also speak to one of our advisors. They are accessible at any time, every day of the week, to provide free legal advice. They can offer insight into your eligibility to claim and provide an estimate of the compensation you may receive.
You can:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Claim online via our website
- Type to an advisor using the live chat window on this page
Professional Negligence Claims Guide
Choose A Section
- What Are Professional Negligence Claims?
- Professional Negligence In Personal Injury Claims
- What Other Claims Could You Make For Solicitors’ Negligence?
- What Compensation Could Be Awarded For Professional Negligence?
- Can You Make No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Claims?
- Get In Touch To Claim For Professional Negligence
- Find Out More About Making Professional Negligence Claims
What Are Professional Negligence Claims?
Professional negligence claims may be brought forward after a professional fails to provide you with a service that meets a reasonable standard. However, there is an eligibility criteria that must be met. Firstly, a professional must have owed you a duty of care. Then, they need to have breached this duty of care. As a result of this breach, you must have suffered losses.
Different types of professionals that could be involved in a claim of this type include:
- Solicitors
- Surveyors
- Architects
- Accountants
It is also important to note that for these types of cases, you generally have six years to start a claim. Please get in touch with a member of our team to discover if you could have valid grounds to make a professional negligence claim and whether you are within the relevant time limits, as they can provide you with further information.
Professional Negligence In Personal Injury Claims
We have a dedicated team at Legal Expert that specialises in handling professional negligence cases in connection with personal injury claims. These cover various areas of personal injury law, such as public liability claims, accidents at work, and road traffic accidents. If a personal injury solicitor breached the duty of care that they owed to you and caused you to suffer losses, you may be eligible to make a professional negligence claim.
These losses could include financial loss, such as loss of compensation or loss of chance to make a claim. This could occur because your personal injury solicitor failed to comply with court deadlines or they missed the limitation date. It is important to note that to bring forward a claim of this type, you must be able to prove on the balance of probabilities that these losses would not have been incurred if your solicitor had not breached their duty of care.
If this is found to be true for your personal injury claim, you may be compensated via general and special damages in the same way you would have been.
A professional negligence claim that is found to be eligible would be brought against the law firm. Law firms will have professional indemnity insurers (PII) for these instances. Speak to a member of our advisory team to learn whether your claim could be eligible.
Below we will provide certain circumstances where personal injury solicitors could have provided services that do not meet the reasonable standard and, therefore, may lead to professional negligence claims.
Under Settling Your Case
One example of how your solicitor could breach their duty of care is by providing you with bad advice and encouraging you to settle your case early. They could do this if they failed to help you collect the correct medical evidence showing psychological harm and so just focused on payment for your physical injuries. If you can prove on the balance of probabilities that you missed out on compensation due to your solicitor breaching their duty of care, you may be eligible to make a professional negligence claim to compensate you for the loss of compensation you suffered.
Cases Being Struck Out
The courts could strike out your claim if your solicitor fails to follow court instructions or deadlines. This would mean your case is dismissed, and you will no longer be able to continue pursuing it.
If your claim is struck out due to the fault of your solicitor, you may be eligible to make a professional negligence claim against the law firm.
Missing The Limitation Date
If your personal injury solicitor missed the limitation date laid out in the Limitation Act 1980 that applied to your case, you may no longer be eligible to pursue your initial claim. Solicitor negligence could cause this to happen if they failed to initiate legal proceedings within the relevant time limits, despite you providing them with plenty of time to do so. This could lead to a professional negligence claim as you could have lost out on compensation.
Please contact a member of our team at Legal Expert to discuss liability in professional negligence claims.
What Other Claims Could You Make For Solicitors’ Negligence?
There are other scenarios where it may be possible to bring forward a professional negligence claim against a law firm. For example, where your personal injury claim has been turned down, or you have suffered financial losses due to unexpected deductions.
Claims Being Turned Down
Your personal injury claim could be turned down just before the applicable time limit expires. This may result in you being unable to find alternative representation and prevent you from pursuing your claim. This could result from a solicitor forgetting about your claim or losing your case file. If this is true for your case, you may have valid grounds to bring forward a professional negligence claim.
Unexpected Deductions
At the beginning of the personal injury claims process, your solicitor should discuss the fees that you will be required to pay. However, in some cases, a solicitor could fail to do this, and therefore some deductions are unexpected or excessive. In cases such as these, you may be eligible to claim professional negligence compensation as reimbursement of these unexpected costs.
What Compensation Could Be Awarded For Professional Negligence?
If you were to make a successful professional negligence claim arising from a personal injury case, you could receive up to two types of damages in the same way you would have if your initial claim was successful. These are:
- Special damages – For personal injury claims, this can compensate for the monetary losses incurred due to your injuries. For example, loss of earnings, travel expenses and care costs.
- General damages – For personal injury claims, this can compensate for the psychological harm and physical pain and suffering caused by your injuries.
Professional negligence solicitors can use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to assist them with valuing general damages. Therefore, we have used this document to create the table below as a guide.
Please note that for each year that passes from your initial claim, you could also receive eight per cent interest on top of the original compensation amount.
Guideline Compensation Table
| Type of Injury | Severity | Details | Compensation Bracket Guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain Damage | (a) Very Severe | The person will give little evidence of meaningfully responding to their environment if any at all. They will have little to no language function, need full-time care, and there will be double incontinence. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Arm Amputations | (a) Loss of Both Arms | This injury reduces a person who is fully aware to a state of considerable helplessness. | £240,790 to £300,000 |
| Arm Injury | (a) Severe | An injury that falls short of amputation but is extremely serious. The person will be little better off than if they had lost their arm. | £96,160 to £130,930 |
| Hand Injury | (c) Total or Effective Loss of One Hand | A crushed hand that was surgically amputated or cases where the majority of the palm and all fingers have been traumatically amputated. | £96,160 to £109,650 |
| Leg Injury | (b)(ii) Severe | The person will have permanent mobility problems and will need crutches or mobility aids for the remainder of their life. | £54,830 to £87,890 |
| Pelvis and Hip Injuries | (a)(ii) Severe | An example of an injury that can fall within this bracket is a pelvis fracture dislocation involving both ischial and pubic rami and leading to impotence. | £61,910 to £78,400 |
| Back Injury | (a)(iii) Severe | Fractures of discs or vertebral bodies, disc lesions, or soft tissue injuries that result in chronic conditions where disabilities remain despite the person undergoing treatment. | £38,780 to £69,730 |
| Ankle Injury | (b) Severe | Injuries that necessitate an extensive period of treatment. | £31,310 to £50,060 |
| Elbow Injury | (b) Less Severe | An injury that impairs function but doesn’t involve significant disability or major surgery. | £15,650 to £32,010 |
| Shoulder Injury | (c) Moderate | A frozen shoulder with discomfort and limited movement, symptoms persist for around two years. | £7,890 to £12,770 |
This table is a guide.
Can You Make No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Claims?
If you choose to use the services of a solicitor, you could benefit from the following:
- Expert advice from a legal professional with experience
- Help to gather evidence
- Assistance in putting forward a complete claim
- Representation if your case goes to court.
What’s more, a professional negligence solicitor could offer to work on a claim under a type of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Entering into a CFA typically means that you will not pay for the services of your solicitor at the following times:
- Upfront
- For the duration of your ongoing claim
- In the case that your claim is unsuccessful
Although, in the case that you make a successful professional negligence claim, your solicitor can take a small percentage of the compensation as a success fee. This percentage is legally capped and will be discussed between you and your solicitor before you enter the agreement.
Get In Touch To Claim For Professional Negligence
Please get in touch with a member of our team for an evaluation of your potential professional negligence claim. If they find that you could have a legitimate claim, they may put you in contact with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
You can:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us via our website
- Type to an advisor using the live chat window on this page
Find Out More About Making Professional Negligence Claims
Please find more information in further guides on our website:
- How Much Compensation Can I Claim For Professional Negligence?
- Personal Injury Compensation
- What Is The Limitation Period In Personal Injury Claims?
- If you live in Fareham and you’re looking for professional negligence solicitors, see this guide. It offers advice on how our service covers the area, as well as potential compensation payouts.
Also, explore the following external links to learn more:
- Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence – Ministry of Justice
- Standards and Regulations – SRA
- Professional Indemnity Insurance Overview – The Law Society
Thank you for reading this guide to professional negligence claims. If you would like to make an enquiry, please get in touch with our team.
