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Professional Negligence

Professional Negligence

If you have been let down by a professional advisor or service provider, you may have suffered financial losses or may now be facing expensive delays and disruption to your plans.  Our solicitors can advise you whether you have grounds for a claim and handle the whole process for you, getting you back to where you should be.

Whether it is your accountant, architect, surveyor or solicitor, you rely on your professional advisors to carry out their duties competently.  But things can sometimes go wrong and if you or your business have been let down by a professional, it can have a big impact and often wide-ranging losses.  If you are successful in demonstrating the basis of your claim, you may be entitled to recover the losses you have incurred as a result of the negligence.

The first step is to identify if you have grounds for a claim and identify your losses.  In order to establish professional negligence, you will be required to demonstrate that:

  • A duty of care exists between one party (the professional) and another (the client);
  • There has been a negligent act, i.e. there has been act that would be deemed unreasonable by other reasonable professionals in the same situation; and
  • There has been a loss caused as a result of that negligent act.

When can I make a claim?

You have five years to raise a claim against a professional for breach of contract or professional negligence from the date that you became aware of the loss you have suffered.

Why is an expert report needed for my claim?

While in certain cases it can seem obvious to you that a professional advisor has let you down, the legal test is more complicated.  In order to successfully demonstrate your claim, you will be required to obtain expert evidence from a professional acting in the industry in question.  That expert witness will be required to confirm that no ordinary skilled professional, acting with ordinary skill and care would have taken the same approach as your professional advisor.  In short, your professional negligence claim has to be supported by such a professional report in order to meet the legal test in respect of professional negligence.

With our experienced team and access to specialists across multiple disciplines, we can introduce you to the relevant experts and instruct them to provide reports to assess the strength of your claim.

To make an appointment with our lawyers based in Alloa and Falkirk, call us today on 01324 622 888 or complete our online enquiry form and let us see how we can help you.