Peace of mind when you’ve been let down.
One of the most common reasons why a professional negligence claim fails is that the claim was not formally issued at Court within the statutory limitation period. This is broadly due to the combination of (a) a claimant often not knowing that they have a potential professional negligence claim until some time after the negligence actually occurred, and (b) the complexities of calculating the specific limitation deadline applicable in each professional negligence claim. It is therefore essential to seek legal advice as soon as you suspect that you may have a potential professional negligence claim, to minimise the risk of unknowingly missing the applicable limitation deadline.
Almost all professional advisors are required to have professional indemnity insurance, and so your claim will most likely be handled by your professional advisor’s insurers, who are also likely to fund any settlement that is agreed or damages that are awarded.
In most cases, your contract will be with the company, firm or organisation that provided you or your business with the professional services, not with the individual within that business who advised you. Therefore, your claim against the business would not normally be affected by the retirement of your specific advisor. If the business itself has ceased trading, then it will be necessary, for example, to ascertain whether there is still insurance cover that would be applicable to your claim.
Generally speaking, if a professional advisor becomes aware that you could have a potential negligence claim against them, they should advise you to seek independent legal advice on your position and your options, as they would have a conflict of interest if they were to provide advice to you in relation to your potential claim against them. That said, in some situations it may be possible for your professional advisor to continue acting for you on matters unrelated to your potential negligence claim.