Should I listen to my solicitor?

ronctlsmile

I am thinking of walking away from my tribunal case. My lawyer suggested me as follow:

a “drop hands” settlement, which simply means that both sides agree to completely walk away without any further action. That protects you from any threat of a claim for costs.

Should I take his advice? It is all about money. If I instruct him, he would charge me more. I made a mistake at the first I had a budget to spend at the beginning and my lawyer agreed. However, I did not say clearly that my budget included VAT at the same time. I go over my budget with VAT. Sigh!!! I was so dumb...

I cannot argue with my solicitor. He was not very honest at first either.

Hey folks, do you have a template of a “drop hands” settlement by any chance. An email format will do.

Many thanks in advance

Thrugelmir

Such a document should be drafted and sent by your solicitor.  

Your solicitor has been at the tribunal hearing and obviously feels that your case has insufficient merit to pursue. There's two sides to every story. Thinking you are in the right doesn't always equate to actually being totally in the right. 

lincroft1710

Either your case is weak or if you win your net gain will be quite small so not worth the effort

 

ronctlsmile

He has not been at the first hearing yet. But the hearing is the next monday. 

TELLIT01

Thrugelmir said:

Such a document should be drafted and sent by your solicitor.  

Your solicitor has been at the tribunal hearing and obviously feels that your case has insufficient merit to pursue. There's two sides to every story. Thinking you are in the right doesn't always equate to actually being totally in the right. 

Even being totally in the right isn't the same thing as being able to prove you are totally in the right. 

The solicitor clearly has good reason for advising against taking the claim forward, so is it sensible to risk more money when the outcome may not be in your favour?

Thrugelmir

ronctlsmile said:

He has not been at the first hearing yet. But the hearing is the next monday. 

Then the solicitor is saving you money by making the suggestion. 

bargainbetty

If he thought you could win, he would not be encouraging you to drop it. He is obliged to advise you in your best interests, not according to your budget. 

And you should have assumed VAT in your costs, that is not his fault. His fees would have been laid out in any letter of engagement including the VAT element. 

Undervalued

ronctlsmile said:

I am thinking of walking away from my tribunal case. My lawyer suggested me as follow:

a “drop hands” settlement, which simply means that both sides agree to completely walk away without any further action. That protects you from any threat of a claim for costs.

Should I take his advice? It is all about money. If I instruct him, he would charge me more. I made a mistake at the first I had a budget to spend at the beginning and my lawyer agreed. However, I did not say clearly that my budget included VAT at the same time. I go over my budget with VAT. Sigh!!! I was so dumb...

I cannot argue with my solicitor. He was not very honest at first either.

Hey folks, do you have a template of a “drop hands” settlement by any chance. An email format will do.

Many thanks in advance

Given that it is unusual for costs to be awarded at an employment tribunal it would tend to suggest that your solicitor now feels your case is very weak.

Normally costs would only be awarded against a claimant if the case was so weak it should never really have progressed this far or it was brought for the wrong reasons e,g mainly to cause trouble rather that seek proper compensation for genuine losses.

Given that there is a solicitor involved I can only assume that something has emerged leading him to suspect this may happen. However, only the solicitor can explain the reason for his advice and only you can decided whether to follow it having assessed the risks.

ssparks2003

Perhaps I am misreading your post but you want to drop your case and your solicitor agrees, and you asking if you should take his advice? He's telling you how to minimise your losses 

Jillanddy

With the best will in the world, reading back through your posting history, you resigned, claimed constructive dismissal, and appear to never have had the grounds for the actions that you took. You said at one point that if you didn't get the result you wanted then you'd do exactly that. Did you realise that that isn't how things work? Several long established posters on this site told you not to pursue that course of action. Your union told you not to pursue that course of action. And now your solicitor is saying the same thing days before the hearing? There does appear to be a common theme here, and it seems to be that have been intent on doing something and have found fault with every person who disagreed with you. Am I correct that the case is on Monday - did I read that somewhere? Sorry, my eyesight isn't very good at the moment (literally - surgery on one yesterday) so I could only rapidly scan your posts - because if that is the case then the employer could still pursue costs even if you drop the case now. The tribunal can't / won't impose costs on you - but they can sue you if they were so inclined. And the solicitors advice seems to suggest they may be so inclined - have they indicated they think this a real possibility?

If your solicitor thinks you have no case, and your union thought you had no case, then dropping the case - assuming you can do so without further cost or risk - is a no brainer. 

lincroft1710

Jillanddy said:

With the best will in the world, reading back through your posting history, you resigned, claimed constructive dismissal, and appear to never have had the grounds for the actions that you took. You said at one point that if you didn't get the result you wanted then you'd do exactly that. Did you realise that that isn't how things work? Several long established posters on this site told you not to pursue that course of action. Your union told you not to pursue that course of action. And now your solicitor is saying the same thing days before the hearing? There does appear to be a common theme here, and it seems to be that have been intent on doing something and have found fault with every person who disagreed with you. Am I correct that the case is on Monday - did I read that somewhere? Sorry, my eyesight isn't very good at the moment (literally - surgery on one yesterday) so I could only rapidly scan your posts - because if that is the case then the employer could still pursue costs even if you drop the case now. The tribunal can't / won't impose costs on you - but they can sue you if they were so inclined. And the solicitors advice seems to suggest they may be so inclined - have they indicated they think this a real possibility?

If your solicitor thinks you have no case, and your union thought you had no case, then dropping the case - assuming you can do so without further cost or risk - is a no brainer. 

Thank you Jill for referring to the previous history, which I had forgotten. Agree with your sentiments 100%!!