Dealing with specific legal situations will necessary require the services of a professional solicitor who can offer legal advice pertaining your problem. However, some solicitors might provide negligent services that can worsen your current situation and lead you to other complications, which will only prevent you from attaining your initial goal. When the standard of service is low and deadlines are not met or bad advice is given, your only option is filling a professional negligence claim against solicitors.
In most cases, solicitors who provide negligent services can charge substantial amounts of money, not to mention the multitude of problems created due to the bad advice they have offered. Negligence claims are valid only if you have suffered a financial loss as a result of your solicitor’s negligence, and this is why you should be prepared to provide adequate evidence pertaining this matter.
What Are the Outcomes of Using a Negligent Solicitor?
Solicitors are meant to provide appropriate legal advice to all individuals dealing with legal issues that have to be solved. When a solicitor does not accomplish his job correctly, this can lead you to a number of problems and negative outcomes that will result in substantial financial loss and even more issues to cope with. There are several bad outcomes of using a negligent solicitor that determines individuals to feel a complaint against the services they have received, and these are the most common ones.
1. Missing Deadlines
By limitation date (or deadline) we understand a period of time after the occurrence of an event (diagnosis of an industrial disease, accident, etc) by which individuals must have started legal proceedings. Most areas of law have limitation dates, and your solicitor is obliged to comply with them. If he does not and your case is thrown away by the court, you are allowed to fill in a complaint against his negligence.
2. Settling a Personal Injury Claim for a Lower Value
When solicitors help clients with personal injury claims, they try their best to give accurate advice about how much the claim could be worth. Hence, winning a case depends on having a good solicitor who makes sure you get the right compensation. If your solicitor makes a mistake and doesn’t estimate the claim value correctly or settles for too little money, you can fill a negligence claim against your solicitor.
3. Supporting the Wrong Party
Supporting the wrong party in a legal case is a rare but possible scenario. This can occur for various reasons, particularly in complex cases such as asbestos-related diseases like Mesothelioma claims, where the parties involved may have different entities or undergo takeovers. If you suspect that your solicitor is advocating for the wrong party in the early stages of your case, it’s advisable to switch to a more trusted and reputable attorney, such as this mesothelioma attorney in Dallas, who will likely advocate for your interests. On the other hand, if you’ve already progressed significantly in your case with a negligent lawyer who has supported the wrong party, you may have grounds to file a claim against them for legal malpractice.
4. Errors in Wills and Contracts
Solicitors who are responsible for errors in drafting contracts and wills can be claimed against if the validity of these acts becomes null. Improperly structured contracts and wills can draw undesired outcomes to both companies and individuals, and they might get unnoticed for several years. In case of errors in drafting contracts and wills, individuals/businesses are allowed to fill in a claim against the solicitor.
5. Bad Advice About Building Regulations or Planning Permissions
Purchasing or renovating a property, or building a new one, are a common reason why people choose to hire solicitors. If the solicitor fails to do proper research on planning permissions, building regulations and covenants related to the property that you want to purchase, renovate or build, you are allowed to complain against him/her.