Expert help for making and defending professional negligence claims
Professional negligence can have very serious financial and personal consequences, both for people who receive negligent services and for those professionals facing a claim against them. Working with specialist professional negligence solicitors can significantly increase your chances of a positive outcome, whether you are a claimant or defendant.
David W Harris & Co regularly works with both claimants and defendants to resolve professional negligence claims. In most cases, we can resolve these disputes without the need for contentious, costly and public court proceedings, saving you time, money and stress.
Our dispute resolution solicitors in South Wales can help with matters including:
- Advice on whether there may be grounds for a professional negligence claim
- Preparing professional negligence claim letters
- Responding to professional negligence claims
- Using the Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence to resolve claims out of court
- Alternative methods to achieve out-of-court resolutions
- Court proceedings for professional negligence
As we have professional negligence solicitors at each of our local offices in Pontypridd, Swansea and Talbot Green, we can offer a truly local, convenient service for our clients.
Our team can assist with claims against a wide range of professionals, including solicitors, accountants, financial advisers, architects and surveyors. We have the expertise to support you with even the most complex and high value professional negligence cases.
Discuss your requirements with our professional negligence solicitors in Swansea, Pontypridd and Talbot Green
We offer a free first consultation to answer your questions and help you decide whether we are the right people to assist you.
Please use our simple online enquiry form to book a free initial chat with one of our professional negligence solicitors. We respond promptly to all enquiries.
Common questions about professional negligence disputes
What is professional negligence?
Professional negligence is where a professional you are using makes mistakes or for any other reason provides a level of service that breaches their duty of care towards you, resulting in you experiencing financial losses.
Professional negligence examples include a lawyer missing or misinterpreting a clause in a contract that causes you to lose out after you sign the contract, a conveyancer missing an issue with a property you are purchasing that later costs you money or a financial adviser giving you substandard advice, leading to poor investments.
What types of professionals can you make a negligence claim against?
There is no strict list of who is classed as a professional for the purposes of making a negligence claim, so it is important to seek expert advice at an early stage. Generally, someone may be considered a professional if their training, qualifications and skills are such that you are substantially relying on their expertise when making decisions that have financial consequences.
Examples of the types of professionals you may be able to make a claim against include solicitors, architects, accountants, financial advisers, surveyors, conveyancers, valuers and insurers.
How do you prove professional negligence?
To be able to prove professional negligence, a claimant must first be able to show that a professional provided them with a service. This can normally be established based on any agreement that existed between claimant and defendant to provide a specific service. This does not need to be a formal contract – an email or text message could potentially be sufficient to show that an agreement existed.
Secondly, it must be possible to show that the professional owed the claimant a duty of care. This will normally rely on showing that the professional’s training, qualifications and skills were sufficient for such a duty to exist.
Thirdly, the claimant will need evidence that the professional made mistakes or that the service they offered fell below reasonable professional standards to the extent that the duty of care they owed to their client was breached. Effectively, it must be possible to demonstrate that any other equivalently trained professional would not have made the same errors.
Finally, the claimant must show that they suffered financial losses as a result of this breach of duty of care. This might be losses such as needing to pay to have the professional’s mistakes put right, dealing with the consequences of their errors or losing out on potential financial rewards due to poor advice.
Working with experienced professional negligence claims lawyers is highly advisable if you are a claimant seeking to prove all of these points or a defendant disputing any of the issues covered above. Our experts can advise on all aspects of professional negligence law, making sure your case is a strong as possible.
What is the limitation period for professional negligence?
The standard limitation period for professional negligence is six years from the date on which the negligence occurred. However, if you only later discover that negligence may have occurred, then you will typically have three years from the date of discovery to claim.
Understanding which professional negligence time limit applies and exactly when it applies from is not always straightforward, especially where the negligence spanned multiple incidents. It is therefore a good idea to speak to a specialist in professional negligence claims as soon as possible to make sure you do not miss out on the opportunity to secure appropriate compensation.
How much compensation can you receive for professional negligence?
Compensation for professional negligence will be determined based on the specifics of the case. The general principle is that the claimant should be put in the position they would have enjoyed if the negligence had not occurred, which means the amount of compensation available tends to be guided by exactly what losses the claimant can prove that they have suffered.
Our professional negligence dispute resolution fees
How much it will cost to resolve a professional negligence claim will depend entirely on the specifics of the case. Generally, the costs will be lower if a solution can be found without the need for court proceedings, which is one of the reasons our team prioritise alternative dispute resolution wherever possible.
For some aspects of professional negligence cases, we may be able to act on a fixed fee basis e.g. for preparing the initial letter of claim. Where ongoing advice and support is required, we will typically charge an hourly rate, which will be agreed in advance.
Speak to our professional negligence solicitors in Swansea, Pontypridd and Talbot Green
To discuss your requirements with our friendly, sensitive professional negligence solicitors in South Wales, please get in touch.
Please use our simple online enquiry form to book a free initial chat with one of our expert solicitors. We respond promptly to all enquiries.