Negligence claims & law

Personal Injury & Professional Negligence Solicitors in North London

Unfortunately, accidents happen in life as do mistakes. Darlingtons provide a full range of claims advice for all negligence related matters whether personal injury such as slipping and tripping injuries, accidents in the workplace, Road Traffic accidents and actions for professional negligence. 

For legally straight forward personal injury claims, we can generally rapidly assess a case and potentially offer a no win no fee claims service.

For complicated professional negligence claims, a more in-depth assessment is often required and there are likely to be many documents which are not in your possession which we would need to obtain before being able to offer a no win no fee commitment on these types of cases. We do ensure that we discuss with all clients the various funding options available and will advise also on the critical area of obtaining after the vent insurance cover against costs orders which could be made in the Defendant's favour. Not having such cover can have catastrophic consequences.

Negligence claims are invariably dealt with by insurers for the defendant. Having claims lawyers who have experience of dealing with insurers is important and insurers generally take a claim more seriously where it is dealt with by a solicitor for the claimant.

At Darlingtons, we have specialist professional negligence solicitors dedicated to assisting in claims against negligent professionals including:

• solicitors
• barristers
• accountants
• architects
• surveyors and valuers
• estate agents

What are the legal basics to prove negligence ?

In order to establish that a professional has been negligent, you must show that the professional:

• owed you a duty of care;
• breached that duty; and
• as a direct result of that breach of duty you have suffered a recoverable loss.

Duty of care

Establishing that you were owed a duty of care by a professional will depend upon the relationship between you and the professional, but such relationships often involve a direct contractual relationship where establishing  a duty of care will usually be straightforward but in certain circumstances, a duty of care will still be owed even where there is no contractual relationship.

Breach of duty of care

The starting point for relationships with professionals is what duties were agreed in the contract between you and the. However, the scope of the duty is often wider than the strict contractual one, generally the standard of service must fall below that which can be reasonably expected of the professional within his or her particular profession. This often comes down to rules of conduct or accepted practice for a profession and/or expert evidence given by a suitable professional in the same field as to what the generally accepted standard should be for the work undertaken or services provided.

Loss not compensation

English law is fundamentally about proving loss and not whether compensation should be awarded for stress and anxiety. It is also generally insufficient to simply show a breach of duty and that some loss has been caused. There needs to be a direct consequential link between the professional’s breach of duty and loss suffered and this area is generally one of the most difficult and hotly contested areas of professional negligence cases.

Solicitors negligence

There are numerous ways in which legal advice and services can go wrong, but some of the more common areas are:

• General mistakes with conveyancing, financial errors and missing or failing to advise on issues with leases
• Missing legal deadlines regarding litigation, lease renewals and many other areas
• Errors, lack of advice or wrong advise relating to wills and probate
• General bad advice or inadequate service

Accountants negligence

Examples of potential accountancy negligence are:

• inadequate planning, control and recording of an audit
• errors in the preparation of accounts
• incorrect advice e.g. in relation to taxation or the valuation of shares

Financial advisors negligence

The duties/liabilities of financial advisers can arise from:

• a breach of a statutory provision
• a breach of a relevant code of practice
• negligent advice on mortgages, pensions and investments and also payment protection insurance and endowments
• negligence in respect of the failure to act with the degree of care and skill to be expected of a reasonably competent financial adviser.

Surveyors negligence

Examples of negligence by surveyors include:

• failing to inspect properly
• failing to observe visible defects in the property e.g. dry rot, woodworm, cracking and subsidence
• failing to make sufficient enquiries
• producing an inadequate report e.g. in terms of failing to warn that some items require further investigation

For further advice and assistance, please contact us, either by telephone or by completing our online negligence enquiry form