Claiming Against Solicitors For Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims

In this guide, we will explore how missed time limits in personal injury claims could affect cases and who could make a professional negligence claim against a solicitor. Professionals such as solicitors undergo years of training to become qualified, and as qualified professionals, they owe all of their clients a duty of care to provide a service that meets the standards of reasonable skill and care. One way they could breach this duty is failing to initiate your personal injury claim with the court within the time limit stated in the Limitation Act 1980.

We’ll explain the criteria that your case must meet in order to be valid, as well as the duty of care owed to you by your solicitor. Our guide also touches on the evidence you may need to make a professional negligence claim and how your case could be affected by professional negligence.

Claims Against A Solicitor For Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims

Claims Against A Solicitor For Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims

You might be wondering how much compensation you could get for a solicitor negligence claim. We’ll explain how compensation is calculated and what your award could be made up of. Finally, our guide will explore how one of our No Win No Fee solicitors could help you make a professional negligence claim. Read on to learn more, or contact our team of advisors by:

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  1. Claims For Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims?
  2. What Could Cause Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims?
  3. Essential Evidence In Professional Negligence Claims
  4. How Much Could Your Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor Be Worth? 
  5. No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Claims Against Solicitors
  6. Talk To Accident Claims UK Today About Making A Claim For A Missed Time Limit In Your Personal Injury Claim

Claims For Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims?

Solicitors undergo years of education, training, and work experience in order to be qualified. Because of this, when a solicitor agrees to work with you, they owe you a duty of care. This means that the services they provide must meet the correct standard. If a personal injury solicitor were to fail to fulfil this duty of care, it could have a detrimental impact on your case.

Generally, in personal injury claims, legal proceedings must be initiated in court within 3 years of the injury occurring, as outlined in the Limitation Act 1980. If your solicitor were to fail to meet this deadline, your case would become statute-barred. This means that you lose the ability to pursue your claim for personal injury compensation. In this case, you may be able to make a professional negligence claim.

To form the basis of a valid professional negligence claim against a personal injury solicitor, you have to be able to prove that:

  • You were owed a duty of care
  • Your solicitor breached this duty of care
  • As a result, you experienced a loss of chance

Professional Negligence Claim Time Limits

In order to make a professional negligence claim, generally, you must begin proceedings within the relevant time limit. This is usually six years. However, there are exceptions.

If you’d like to know more about the time limit for claiming professional negligence, get in touch with our team of friendly advisors today.

What Could Cause Missed Time Limits In Personal Injury Claims?

There are a number of ways in which a solicitor could have missed time limits in personal injury claims. However, as we have already mentioned, you are only able to claim for this if you can prove that your solicitor breached their duty of care, and this leads to you experiencing a loss of chance. A loss of chance in personal injury claims is when you lose the chance to pursue all or part of your claim due to the negligence of your solicitor.

Some examples of when you could claim for a missed time limit include:

  • Your solicitor forgot to start working on your case and did not start proceedings in time
  • They failed to inform you that they wouldn’t be taking on your case in time for you to seek alternative representation
  • Your solicitor did not collect adequate evidence in time for your case to be presented in court

How Could Missing Time Limits Impact Your Claim?

In all of the cases mentioned above, your claim could be statute-barred. This means that you can no longer bring forward a claim because the time limit has run out. When a claim is time-barred, this can mean you lose the chance to claim any compensation for your injuries. If you can prove that your claim was time-barred because your solicitor breached their duty of care, then you may be able to make a professional negligence claim.

To learn more about how missed time limits in personal injury claims can affect the outcome of claims, read on. Or, contact our team of friendly advisors today to find out if you could be eligible to claim compensation.

Essential Evidence In Professional Negligence Claims

To claim for professional negligence, you must be able to provide evidence that your solicitor breached their duty of care. For example, you could collect:

  • Correspondence from the solicitor or the firm
  • Notes from meetings
  • The initial contract you signed
  • Your full case file.

You will also need evidence that your original personal injury claim, on the balance of probabilities, would have been successful had your solicitor not breached their duty of care.

For example, this could include:

  • Medical records
  • Pictures of your injuries
  • Witness contact details or statements that have already been collected
  • CCTV footage of the accident

If you choose to work with a solicitor on your professional negligence claim, they could help you collect further evidence to strengthen and support your claim. Contact our team of advisors today to learn more, or read on to learn more about missed time limits in personal injury claims.

How Much Could Your Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor Be Worth? 

If your professional negligence compensation claim against a personal injury solicitor is successful, the compensation you receive should put you into a position that you would have been in if the negligence had not occurred. So the compensation could be calculated in the same way as it would have been in the personal injury claim and contain up to two Heads of Loss.

For example:

  • General damages: Compensation for your injuries, as well as loss of amenity
  • Special damages: Compensation for the financial losses caused by your injuries

On top of this, you will receive an additional 8% interest for each year that has passed.

Below, you can find some examples of guideline compensation brackets for general damages. These figures are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which helps solicitors value this head of claim by providing guideline amounts. Please note that these figures are not guaranteed.

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Injury Compensation Bracket Notes
Very Severe Brain Damage (a) £282,010 to £403,990 At the top of this bracket, some ability to follow basic commands is present. There is little response to surroundings, and little to no language function, with a need for full time professional care.
Severe Neck Injuries (a) (i) In the region of
£148,330 		Incomplete paraplegia where there is little to no movement in the neck, despite the claimant wearing a collar constantly over a period of years.
Amputation Of One Foot (b) £83,960 to £109,650 Because of the loss of the ankle joint, this injury is treated similarly to below-the-knee amputation.
Chest Injuries (b) £65,740 to £100,670 Traumatic heart, lung, or chest injuries that cause permanent and severe damage and physical disability.
Total Loss Of One Eye (d) £54,830 to £65,710 In this bracket, the age of the claimant as well as the cosmetic and psychiatric effect of the injury are all considered.
Severe Back Injuries (a) (iii) £38,780 to £69,730 Disc lesions, disc fractures, and soft tissue injuries where there is still significant disability, despite treatment.
Severe Leg Injuries (b) (iii) £39,200 to £54,830 Extensive scarring and future arthritis caused by severe compound or comminuted fractures or joint injuries, also leading to instability and the inability to bear weight on the injured leg.
Moderate Ankle Injuries (c) £13,740 to £26,590 Ligamentous injuries, fractures, and other injuries that cause less serious disabilities with residual scarring and the risk of future osteoarthritis.
Arm Injuries (d) £6,610 to £19,200 Simple fractures of the forearm.
Moderate Shoulder Injuries (c) £7,890 to £12,770 Frozen shoulder injury with symptoms lasting around 2 years or soft tissues injuries with more than minor symptoms lasting beyond 2 years.

For more information on claiming compensation for professional negligence, we recommend contacting our team of friendly advisors.

No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Claims Against Solicitors

Now that you know more about how missed time limits in personal injury claims can affect cases, you might be interested in starting a professional negligence claim. One of our solicitors could help you do this by offering you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a kind of No Win No Fee contract.

Under this kind of agreement, you don’t need to:

  • Pay any upfront fees for your solicitor to start working on your case
  • Pay any ongoing fees for their work to continue
  • Pay for their services if your claim fails

If you make a successful claim, then your solicitor will be due a success fee. They will deduct this fee from your compensation and take it as a small percentage. But the percentage is subject to a legislative cap, which means you keep the larger portion of what you receive.

To find out if you could be eligible to work with one of our solicitors, contact our friendly advisors by following the details below.

Talk To Accident Claims UK Today About Making A Claim For A Missed Time Limit In Your Personal Injury Claim

Our advisors are here to help. They can tell you if you are eligible to claim through a free consultation and may be able to pass your claim on to one of our solicitors. Get started today by:

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Thank you for reading our guide on how missed time limits in personal injury claims could affect cases and when you could claim for professional negligence.