Professional negligence.

[David999]

Hi. If a claim for personal injury is struck out of court because your solicitor misses a deadline, can you sue him?

If so, does this include the damages you would have received for your injuries, had your claim been successful in court?

Any advice on this would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Amethyst]

What was the deadline ? ( is it a procedural thing, like directions questionnaires not being returned on time, or limitations - claim not filed until out of time )

[David999]

Hi. The particulars of claim were not filed in time, despite them being completed & signed over a month before the deadline.

[wales01man]

Have you contacted the Solicitor to ask why?

[Amethyst]

Okay so when you say in time, do you mean following issue of the claim, or in time, outside the 3 year limitations for PI claims ?

[Legal Steve]

Hi. If a claim for personal injury is struck out of court because your solicitor misses a deadline, can you sue him?

If so, does this include the damages you would have received for your injuries, had your claim been successful in court?

Any advice on this would be much appreciated, thanks.

Yes you could subject to their re-applying to the court re your claim. Is as stated 3 year limitation - depends when had claim

[David999]

Hi. The claim was lodged with the courts within the 3 year period. However, the particulars of claim were not delivered to court within the subsequent 4 months. They were served on the defendants but not sent to the court!

Because of this, my claim has been struck out of court.

If I decided to sue my solicitor for negligence (failing to deliver the particulars of claim to court in time), could I sue for the damages I might have received for my injuries had my case proceeded to court. Or can I only claim for costs I have already incurred, legal witness expenses etc.

[David999]

It’s now more than 3 years since the date of my accident, so I doubt if my solicitor could restart proceedings against my employer.

[Amethyst]

Is your solicitor appealing the strike order at all ?

Have you spoken to the solicitor and have they confirmed they hadn't filed the particulars with the court ? it would seem odd for your solicitor to serve the particulars but not file them with the court.

Ill tag Peridot regarding what you might be able to claim from your solicitors if it was indeed negligence that caused your case to be struck out.

[David999]

He’s appealing, yes. I’m just trying to find out where I stand if the appeal fails. I suffered quite a serious hand injury at work & would be gutted if I couldn’t argue my case for compensation because the solicitor’s admin forgot to send the relevant documents to court!

[ostell]

Or the court "lost" it?

[David999]

I’ve not been given a full explanation yet as to why the claim wasn’t filed.
I’ve been told the person responsible is no longer with the practice & there is a fair chance the appeal will be successful.
I’m just trying to find out what my options are if the appeal fails.