Help with solicitor demand

gazmon

Hi, all

In 2016 i was contacted by a company who dealt with holiday sickness, my wife and kids had been sick on holiday and they said i could have a claim, i went through a process of starting a claim with a solicitor named `Driscoll Kingston` in Liverpool , after moutains of letters and forms my wife decided she wanted to cancel the claim,

Which i did by email informing them we no longer wished to continue,

i have this week after hearing nothing for over a year had a letter from Driscoll Kingston Demanding a payment of several thousands for work they did.

my wife and i were under the impression that it was totally a no win no fee claim

please could anyone advise on what i can do

thanks
gazmon

Silver_Queen

What does it say on your client care letter that you got at the start of the claim?

If you didn't get a client care letter, you can raise the issue with the solicitors' internal complaints procedure, and if you don't reach a satisfactory conclusion you can raise the issue with the solicitors regulation authority.

I suspect that the client care letter would say though that if you cancel the claim halfway through, they reserve the right to charge for the work carried out thus far so you may be liable to pay the bill. Depending how much it is you might be able to work out some kind of a reduced payment or payment plan.

gazmon

I’m not sure of if we received a client care letter and if we did it might not be here anymore

My guess is that if I ask for one they will provide it as there get out clause

National_Debtline

Hi gazmon


Although this may have been a no win no fee scheme, that is usually on the basis that you continue with the claim until it's conclusion. It's likely you will find somewhere in the small print that if you cancel you can be held liable for the solicitor's bill.


I'd certainly advise you to check all of your paperwork. If you no longer have it you'll need to ask for copies. If you are liable then you'll need to look at your options to deal with the debt.


The debt is classed as a non priority but solicitors are known to be a bit more proactive in chasing debts. I'd advise you get in touch with one of the free debt advice agencies to discuss all of your options. I hope it goes well.


Susie
@natdebtline

gazmon

Hi

But I combined total including a 50% discount is £16000. , this is far greater than the expected claim sort !!!

As you can imagine that an extortionate amount of fees , considering they informed me the case was rejected

Silver_Queen

The only thing you can do is check your paperwork as the fees will have been set out in the client care letter. There's no use arguing the amount to an online forum as none of us will have seen the terms. Is the amount £16,000 or have you accidentally added a 0? If it's £1,600, that's actually not a huge amount for solicitors fees if charged at an hourly rate. £360 + VAT per hour is a standard rate and a bill for £1,600 is only 4 hrs work.

gazmon

No I respect what u are saying and understand what I need to check

It is £16000 though

sourcrates

There is a Legal Ombudsman you can complain to in cases such as this.

Information here :

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

Silver_Queen

Ok. This is what I would suggest:

1. Ask for copy of client care letter. If they didn't give you one at the beginning (the rules are they should give you a client care letter prior to any advice being given but generally as long as they gave you the letter before any work is done it's usually fine) then they'll have a headache for themselves and might reduce/drop the cost.
2. Ask for an itemised bill. This should show a log of the dates that work was carried out, how long for, what type of work i.e. phone call, letter etc.
3. If still not satisfied, raise an internal complaint. You need to do this first before raising the matter with the ombudsman.
4. If still not satisfied, raise a complaint with the legal ombudsman.
5. If the sols have acted improperly, raise a complaint with the solicitors regulation authority too.

The itemised bill will make it easier to tell whether the bill is legit or if they've just inflated it massively.