solicitor has made mistake , what do i do

frosticles1111

i had an accident at work,and did not go to work for a few months so lost wages ..i put in a claim against the company for loss of earnings plus damages..the company offered £450 damages .the solicitor said that with loss of earnings that would make a total of aprox £1000 so she said she is going to ask for a total of £2000 but expects them to proberbly offer £1500 total..she asked me to let her know what i think so i told her that i would take whatever they offered again between the £1500 and £2000..a few weeks later i received a cheque for £450???.i phoned up and they said i agreed to take £450??? and the insurers have paid out so case closed...what should i do..i am obviously not going to say to my solicitor that i want £450 after they even offered £1000. what should i do..thankyou

snoozy

Well the first thing you need to do is speak to your solicitor and find out exactly what she said to the insurers on your behalf. It may be that she did pass on the correct amount but they have made a mistake/are chancing it. If so, then ask her to contact them and make clear that you are not accepting that amount and she can proceed with your claim. She will know what to do.

If your solicitor has made a mistake, she has acted outwith your authority. Do you have any evidence (letter, email etc) of what you told her? She will have insurance for this kind of thing and you should be able to claim from her. Speak to her and give her the chance to make right. If she is in a firm (presumably she is), ask who the Complaints partner is and make a complaint in writing. Someitmes, law firms will make payments to clients if they are at fault rather than going to the hassle and embarrassment of claiming through their professional indemnity insurance. If you are not satisfied after speaking to the firm, contact the Law Society for advice.

Astaroth

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/redressscheme.law

The above is a link to the law society's guidance on making complaints about a solicitor. This is for if you are in england or wales - I am sure the Scottish/ N.Irelands equiv will have something similar if this is where you are based.

Basically, complain to the solicitor (they have a template for written complaints if you want to go down that route) and give them sufficient time to respond (they suggest 28 days). If you are not happy with the response or they do not respond in time you then escalate it to the Law Society for adjudication.