Seeking a solicitor to take action against another solicitor for negligence

Mistral001

How much is are you claiming in damages against this firm?

If it is less than £2000** you could try the Small Claims Courts where it is quite normal for you not to be represented by a solicitor.

(**the max is £5000 in GB but I think it is still £2000 in NI - suggest you ring them to check).

GlynD

Mistral001 wrote: »

How much is are you claiming in damages against this firm?

If it is less than £2000** you could try the Small Claims Courts where it is quite normal for you not to be represented by a solicitor.

(**the max is £5000 in GB but I think it is still £2000 in NI - suggest you ring them to check).

It's only my opinion but personally I would be very wary of going into court against a solicitor unless I had a good solicitor representing me. Regardless of what type that court was.

saverbuyer

GlynD wrote: »

In terms of income it's a fact. It's well reported on the news.

In terms of legal aid income, most of which will be criminal legal aid. There will be many other firms that have higher income from other areas and private clients. Does that mean they are more "successful"?

Just because a firm is "successful" generating revenue in one area of law it doesn't necessarly follow that they are best placed to handle a completely different one.

Like saying just because IBM make the most money selling servers, they will therefore supply the best tablet computers.

ballyblack

I would be very wary of going into court against a solicitor

and the judge will be an ex solicitor/barrister

warmhands.coldheart

if not too personal, can it be disclosed as to what the issue is. May help in wider advice on the mattrer...i.e a huge issue to you may be seen a ssomething petty by someone else.... (i.e. if they told you you were responsible for 2 boundaries and it's actually 3 or 4, then that, to me, would be a bit petty, on the other hand if they missed a huge development which is planned for beside your house, then that's obviously not!)

glenrover

Well its a long complicated matter!
The basic picture is that:
-my wife's ex. partner bought a house and arranged a mortgage in her name without her knowledge.
-this solicitor carried out the conveyancing without knowing that the couple had split a few months before this.
-Mortgage application was made via a financial adviser who was mate of the ex partner.
-Mortgage application contained false info and forged documents
-wife was tricked into signing the mortgage deed but all other signatures on mortgage papers were forged and look nothing like normal signature.
-Solicitor accepted that everything was above board as ex.partner was a local businessman and he "knew of" him....even though the mortgage and purchase was not being arranged in his name.
-Solicitor even registered the house on Land registry to the address of the ex. partners business

As it stands we have a property registered to my wife with a defaulted mortgage. Expect that re-possession should have been completed by now. o/s mortgage amount is about £170k with resale value of £90k so we are looking at a potential debt against us of £80k.

We have;
-Reported matter to PSNI who are looking at it
-complaint against solicitor being looked at by law society
-reported solicitor to Information Commissioner for non compliance with DPA....he wont provide copy file.
-Mortgage company fraud team are investigating (awaiting final response soon, hoping that they will find in our favour)
-Been offered £4k by the financial adviser for errors, this was turned down and have referred the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service....they may not be able to deal with this they are suggesting it is a matter better handled by the courts...which is very frustrating indeed.

There is even more to the story than this and we are basically trying every avenue we have to try to get some justice.

Our initial aim is to be cleared of the mortgage. If the mortgage company accept this then we will be more than happy and will be less concerned about taking court action.

We will probably know much clearer how things stand in next 2months.

warmhands.coldheart

!!!!, that sounds awfull....... sounds like that solicitors firm are well dodgy if they won't even follow basic guidelines. Will the bank help you out any in gettinghte information?? I note the PSNI "are looking into it".... don't hold your breath for a quick response...

glenrover

Yes its a nightmare indeed. I think the solicitor didnt suspect anything and were happy just to put through another fee on their books for another "normal" conveyancing. The bank have provided all they can as we did a "subject access request" but it is interesting that the solicitor has not co-operated either with the bank despite repeated requests for them to provide a copy of their conveyancing file. I believe that the solicitor is dragging their heels and dont want to provide any info that will incriminate them. Having said that it must say something when they wont co-operate with the Bank.
Yes PSNI arent the fastest but the Law Society are the worst ever in terms of speed!!!

warmhands.coldheart

glenrover wrote: »

Yes its a nightmare indeed. I think the solicitor didnt suspect anything and were happy just to put through another fee on their books for another "normal" conveyancing. The bank have provided all they can as we did a "subject access request" but it is interesting that the solicitor has not co-operated either with the bank despite repeated requests for them to provide a copy of their conveyancing file. I believe that the solicitor is dragging their heels and dont want to provide any info that will incriminate them. Having said that it must say something when they wont co-operate with the Bank.
Yes PSNI arent the fastest but the Law Society are the worst ever in terms of speed!!!

Surely then if the bank can't even get the info from the solicitors, they can't hold the debt against your oh. might seem court will be the only route to get this sorted.

saverbuyer

Have you asked any other solicitors for advice? What have they actually come back to you with? Do you have the means to fund potential litigation? Have you checked your insurance policies for legal expense cover? Did you wife attend the repossession hearing?

It sounds like a complicated case, I expect this could be a major stumbling block,

wife was tricked into signing the mortgage deed