Have you instructed an accountant, surveyor, builder or any other professional and been provided bad advice/representation that has resulted in loss?

If so, you may be entitled to make a claim for professional negligence.

It may be that the damage occurred after the breach and therefore the time limit is greater if suing under negligence rather than contract.

Who is a Professional?

There is no specific definition. But in general, anyone who holds a special skill is a professional, for example:-

• accountants,
• surveyors,
• engineers,
• doctors,
• solicitors,
• barristers etc.

How to Make a Professional Negligence Claim

In order to make a professional negligence claim, you need to prove the below:

You Were Entitled to a Duty of Care

This is fairly straightforward to prove, especially if you have a signed client care letter or retainer.

Breach of Duty

You need to prove that the advice given by the professional fell below the standard expected of a reasonably competent professional in that field. E.g., the test of whether there is a breach of the duty of care to the client is whether he or she has failed to provide reasonable advice as would be expected from a surveyor.

You Suffered Losses

You need to have suffered losses. Losses can include financial (including loss of earnings and future healthcare provision), loss of a chance.

Causation

You need to establish that the breach of duty by the professional caused your losses. If for example, a solicitor provides negligent advice in a house sale, you have to establish that the negligent advice caused a loss to you.

Burden of Proof

As the potential Claimant in proceedings, you need to establish all of the above limbs of the test on the balance of probabilities i.e. above 50%.

Pre-action Protocol for Professional Negligence Claims

The Protocol aims to ensure the resolution of professional negligence disputes in a just, fair, proportionate and timely matter. The pre-action protocol is steps you must take before issuing a claim at court. The steps are:

1. Letter of notification (Claimant)
2. Letter of the claim (Claimant)
3. Acknowledgement (Defendant)
4. Letter of response (Defendant)

Please note there is a separate Pre-action Protocol for medical negligence claims.

Claim Fees

At Best Solicitors, in some circumstances we can offer No Win No Fee/Conditional Fee Agreements.

This means that if we are successful in suing the professional, we will recover our costs from them. However, if you succeed we will take 25% of the damages you are awarded from you. This is known as a success fee.

If the claim is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay our fees and counsel fees if they too are instructed on a Conditional Fee Agreement basis.

Contact us on 0114 3583134 to find out more, or email us via our contact page