What is Professional Negligence?

You may be entitled to make a professional negligence claim if you have lost out financially after inadequate advice or improper conduct from a professional.  Professionals are legally bound to exercise reasonable skill and care when dealing with clients.  Also know as a “duty of care”.

This duty of care is a legal guarantee of the quality of service that you should receive from a professional.  The service should be of a level expected of a “reasonably competent professional in that field”, should it fall below that level then it is possible that the professional has breached their duty of care and has been “professionally negligent” and they could be liable for damages.

Professional negligence claims can be held against all manner of professionals including accountants, architects, engineers, estate agents, financial advisers, insurance brokers and solicitors to name but a few.

There are numerous different professional negligence claims that could be brought to court, including such things as the miss selling of financial products, poor legal advice given by solicitors (poor litigation), property transaction issues or bad conveyancing and complaints regarding architects which usually go hand in hand with building contractors.

For a professional negligence claim to be successful there are a number of things to undertake.

  • Firstly the existence of a Duty of Care must be established. This should be detailed in the contract that your service professional is legally required to provide.  It will state that the professional has to provide the service with skill and diligence and, where a time is not specified, within a reasonable time period.
  • Secondly a breach in the duty of care needs to exist by proving that the professional has not matched the abilities of a reasonable person in the same profession.
  • Lastly, when it has been established that care has been breached it is necessary to prove that the financial loss caused was a direct result of the professionals negligent actions.

Due to the complexity and stress related to professional negligence claims it is advisable to use a Professional Negligence Solicitor to ensure that your case goes as smoothly as possible.  They will ensure that the correct procedure are followed when making the claim to avoid the risk of penalties being incurred or your case being thrown out.

With professional negligence being a highly complex field ensure you instruct a specialist that deals with the particular profession that you need to make the claim against.  For example Mulderrigs Solicitors are experts in compensation claims and specialise in negligence cases against solicitors.

To contact Mulderrigs, visit their website: Mulderrigs Solicitors 

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