Legal rip off

nightowl22

My daughter suffers from a lifelong disabling condition and was badly treated by her former employer then singled out for redundancy. The effect on her health was severe and she became acutely ill, needing prolonged hospital care. She instructed solicitors to take action against her former employer and because of her illness I dealt with them on her behalf. The solicitors gave an estimate of the cost of an application to and representation at at an employment tribunal.
After 6 months the case was settled by agreement before the stage where the former employer had to disclose any of its documents.
My daughter's solicitors then put in a bill which was more than twice their estimate for going all the way to a hearing at a tribunal (and more than the compensation they had negotiated for my daughter). I protested at the amount of the costs in accordance with the solicitors' complaints procedure but they just said everything done by them was right and the costs would have to be paid.
I wanted to end the matter to save my daughter any further stress so I paid the solicitors about 70% of what they were claiming and said I was paying this in full and final settlement of any and all claims against her. They banked my cheque and have now issued proceedings against my daughter for the balance.
My question is this: can the solicitors just take my money (I have never owed them anything) and apply it to a debt they say is due from my daughter, even though I expressly said I was only offering it if it was accepted in full and final settlement?
Advice from any money saving legal eagles would be much appreciated.and would even begin to restore my faith in that profession. I know we all have to make a living but really . . .

mrs_pickle_2

FROM LAW SOCIETY WEBSITE:


Paying for legal services

I am unhappy with my solicitor's costs - what should I do?

If your case did not require court proceedings you are entitled to ask your solicitor to apply for a remuneration certificate. It gives an opinion on how fair and reasonable a solicitor's charges are. The remuneration scheme only deals with non-contentious costs. The Legal Complaints Service provides this service free of charge.
The procedure is governed by the Solicitor's Non-Contentious Business Remuneration Order 1994 ('The Order').

Ask for this ASAP you have ONE MONTH from the date you receive the bill TO APPLY IN WRITING before you lose the right. However, if your solicitor doesn't inform you of your right to apply for a remuneration certificate – and they have already taken their costs from money they are holding for you – you have THREE MONTHS from the date you receive the bill to apply to your solicitor IN WRITING for a remuneration certificate. Your solicitor will then make an application on your behalf and once in receipt of the same complete their section and forward the remuneration certificate for you to complete.

Basically the law society will assess the file to ascetsain whether the costs are reasonable. In remuneration certificate you should state whether you solicitors gave you revised costs estimates so that you knew precisely the amount of compensation you would receive after legal costs hads been deducted.

Helpline – 0845 608 6565 – if you're concerned about meeting a deadline......GOOD LUCK!

nightowl22

Thanks for this Mrs Pickle, but the information on a remuneration was in the small print on the back of the solicitors' invoice and I did not pick up on it. I did go with the solicitors' complaints procedure and it dragged on for more than 3 months because they just stone-walled and said everything they did was correct. I have made a complaint to the Legal Complaints Service which is now being processed but my daughter is being sued and time is running on that.
For obvious reasons I am now reluctant to consult solicitors for advice.

Voyager2002

Might I suggest that you contact the Legal Complaints Service to enquire whether than can still help you, since you used the solicitors' complaints procedure and this took longer than you reasonably expected.

If you are within the three months, you might ask whether they could still help you since you could argue that mentioning the scheme in small print on the back of an invoice does not really count as informing you.

If the matter were actually to come to court I think that you and your daughter would have an excellent case. Courts apply a 'value for money' test, and recovering compensation amounting to less than their fee does not sound like value for money to me!

mrs_pickle_2

this malpractice makes my blood boil-i'm guessing that they dragged out the internal appeal deliberately! send the written request for a remuneration cert. today-email it if possible so you have a record, worry about time limits after this.

if i were you i would threaten to take your daughter's matter to the local papers-i bet they will be eager to come to some sort of mutual agreement after this. i would threaten to go to the papers as a matter of principle after all they probably do this to their clients - whose interests they feign to look after regularly-it's disgusting!

mrs_pickle_2

CAB may be able to assist you.

Tozer

mrs_pickle wrote: »

FROM LAW SOCIETY WEBSITE:


Paying for legal services

I am unhappy with my solicitor's costs - what should I do?

If your case did not require court proceedings you are entitled to ask your solicitor to apply for a remuneration certificate. It gives an opinion on how fair and reasonable a solicitor's charges are. The remuneration scheme only deals with non-contentious costs. The Legal Complaints Service provides this service free of charge.
The procedure is governed by the Solicitor's Non-Contentious Business Remuneration Order 1994 ('The Order').

Ask for this ASAP you have ONE MONTH from the date you receive the bill TO APPLY IN WRITING before you lose the right. However, if your solicitor doesn't inform you of your right to apply for a remuneration certificate – and they have already taken their costs from money they are holding for you – you have THREE MONTHS from the date you receive the bill to apply to your solicitor IN WRITING for a remuneration certificate. Your solicitor will then make an application on your behalf and once in receipt of the same complete their section and forward the remuneration certificate for you to complete.

Basically the law society will assess the file to ascetsain whether the costs are reasonable. In remuneration certificate you should state whether you solicitors gave you revised costs estimates so that you knew precisely the amount of compensation you would receive after legal costs hads been deducted.

Helpline – 0845 608 6565 – if you're concerned about meeting a deadline......GOOD LUCK!

This is incorrect. Look at the bit I have highlighted - it only applies in respect of non-contentious work. This was a contentious matter.

Tozer

Your solicitors should have provided cost updates throughout the matter. If the original estimate was going to be exceeded, then they should have notified you of this.

How much is the bill for?

mrs_pickle_2

thanks tozer-you are quite right however had a friend in exactly the same boat who used the remuneration cert. route. what's more the sol. have mentioned it on their bill too.

Tozer

They have it printed on their invoices as a matter of course.

OP - If proceedings have started against your daughter then you need to do something about it pronto. Firstly, acknowledge the service of the proceedings - this buys you extra time to file a defence.

Then ask the firm to stay the proceedings as you will be making a complaint about them.

Alternatively, defend the action on the basis that:

a) the firm did not give best information as to costs; and
b) they did not act in the client's best interests by pursuing a claim where there was little chance of a proportionate recovery.

The difficulty with this approach may be that it leaves the small claims court and will become a professional negligence set off.

nightowl22

Tozer wrote: »

They have it printed on their invoices as a matter of course.

OP - If proceedings have started against your daughter then you need to do something about it pronto. Firstly, acknowledge the service of the proceedings - this buys you extra time to file a defence.

Then ask the firm to stay the proceedings as you will be making a complaint about them.

Alternatively, defend the action on the basis that:

a) the firm did not give best information as to costs; and
b) they did not act in the client's best interests by pursuing a claim where there was little chance of a proportionate recovery.

The difficulty with this approach may be that it leaves the small claims court and will become a professional negligence set off.

The estimate the solicitors gave for representation all the way to a tribunal hearing was £10,000. My daughter had been offered £8750 by her employers. The case was settled at £25,000 before the stage when the parties had to disclose documents (which I understood was the point when things really started to get expensive).
My household insurance provided cover and have paid out £17,500 plus VAT and expenses (nearly £22,000 in all) and the solicitors are now looking for £5000 from my daughter. The solicitors did not tell me how much they billed the insurers, I got that information from the insurance company direct.
I offered £3700 if they would go away and they banked my cheque and are now suing for the balance of £1300. I think they have already been paid far too much and now the matter has gone to court I would like to claim back my £3700 as I don't think they had any right to bank my cheque when I have never owed them a penny and I only made the offer on condition that it was final.
But, we just want to get on with our lives and my daughter wants to concentrate on getting well and getting back to work.