Lamb Brooks Solicitors work with businesses who have suffered as a result of professional negligence. Our experts help clients achieve financial compensation and justice when they have been let down by a professional expert or advisor.

Most businesses will rely heavily on the guidance and expertise of a professional person or firm to assist them throughout the life of their business. Whether it is services from your accountant, your solicitor or any other professional advisor – business owners appoint these individuals in good faith and understandably expect that their company is in safe hands. People trust that the individuals they appoint to look after their businesses have the knowledge, experience and training to give them sound advice and guidance. Furthermore, with such advisors usually being from heavily regulated industries a business rightly assumes that they will be afforded with necessary protection along the way.

Negligence occurs when the practitioner has failed to provide the reasonable level of skill, care or service required of them, which results in the client or business suffering damage or financial losses.

Examples of professional negligence claims for businesses can include:

• Failure to file accounts or paperwork by deadlines resulting in penalties
• Inaccurate valuation of the business or its assets
• Giving poor or inadequate advice that causes the business a financial loss
• Poor legal representation that causes the business to lose a case in court

If you are a business owner who has been let down by a professional advisor then please get in touch with our Professional Negligence Expert, Andrew Maidment, on 01256 844888 or email andrew.maidment@lambbrooks.com. Andrew will be happy to discuss your situation and advise you if there is a likely claim to be made.

Limitation

Generally, a claim for professional negligence must be commenced at Court within 6 years of the date of the negligent act/loss, or within 3 years of the date of knowledge. Ultimately, the legal test for ascertaining the correct date of knowledge is that when a reasonable person ought to have recognised that there was a risk that negligence had occurred. Also, there is a 15 year longstop within which a claim must be brought.

Should you fail to bring a claim within the relevant limitation period it will become statute-barred and will be lost forever.

Small Claim

Any claim for professional negligence which falls below £10,000 would likely be deemed by the court to be a small claim and, in those circumstances, your legal costs (save for very modest amounts) are not recoverable even if you are successful. Because of this, we would only be able to consider acting in relation to a small claims on a privately paying basis.