I filed a legal claim against my previous landlord using a solicitors firm. I signed a no win no fee agreement with them.
Long story short, the solicitors didn't keep me posted properly about the progress of the claim. I didn't know there was a trial scheduled for several months, and I didn't know a hearing fee had to be paid by a specific deadline. Due to a number of administrative errors the solicitors missed the deadline to pay the fee (it was them who had to make the payment, not me) and the claim was struck out by the court. As I never knew about the trial date I wasn't really in a position to chase them about that, during many months I was just waiting for an update about the case from them.
When the claim was struck out, they immediately applied to reinstate the claim, and there will be a hearing soon for this application.
I've been reading about this scenario, and I'm aware that the decision to reinstate the claim will just depend on the discretion of the court. I don't really know if it's likely or not that the case is reinstated, to be honest, but I think it's quite unfair that I'm now in this position when I have not done anything wrong. I hope the judge takes that into consideration when making a decision.
I'd like to understand what my position would be if the application to reinstate the claim is dismissed, so I can be prepared to act properly if that happens:
Long story short, the solicitors didn't keep me posted properly about the progress of the claim. I didn't know there was a trial scheduled for several months, and I didn't know a hearing fee had to be paid by a specific deadline. Due to a number of administrative errors the solicitors missed the deadline to pay the fee (it was them who had to make the payment, not me) and the claim was struck out by the court. As I never knew about the trial date I wasn't really in a position to chase them about that, during many months I was just waiting for an update about the case from them.
When the claim was struck out, they immediately applied to reinstate the claim, and there will be a hearing soon for this application.
I've been reading about this scenario, and I'm aware that the decision to reinstate the claim will just depend on the discretion of the court. I don't really know if it's likely or not that the case is reinstated, to be honest, but I think it's quite unfair that I'm now in this position when I have not done anything wrong. I hope the judge takes that into consideration when making a decision.
I'd like to understand what my position would be if the application to reinstate the claim is dismissed, so I can be prepared to act properly if that happens:
- Could that be considered a solicitor's breach of our agreement, given that due to their negligence the claim was struck out?
- I know we could always try to start fresh proceedings for the same claim, but I wouldn't want to do that. Could we refuse to do it if the solicitors propose it, or could that be considered a breach of the agreement from our side? I wouldn't want costs to keep escalating after all this mess, and I'm concerned that such scenario could happen.
- I know I would be required to pay costs incurred by the defendant. Could I claim compensation to the solicitors in that case using the Legal Ombudsman?
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