solicitor goes into administration, I am liable for costs, insurer not responding

saiyen2002

This is post is both lega/solicitor and about Amtrust insurance, so thought this the best place for this post

I had a no win no fee case with Purelegal. they have goine into administration, and I had new solicitor SSB Law taking over the case.

They say PureLegal took out a loan of £13,500 with Novitas in my name to fund the case. if the case is successfull they reocver the costs for opposing party, if they loose get paid back by the insurer Amtrust.

SSB Law say that £13,500 is not enough money to see the case through. not enough money for court fee and barrister fee etc. They cannot get funding from anywhere else to complete this case.

I have said I am willing to fund the remainder of the costs, so we can go to court. That way if we loose, amtrust should cover the losses.
Solicitor is advising discontinuance, and have said that if we do not follow their advice, they will stop representing us. They say amtrust have not explained clearly if they would cover losses now that the situation has changed. So now, they advise for me to legally pursue Amtrust to to reimburse the costs.

I feel like I was initially misled, believing ther 'No Win, No Fee' would mean that I will not be financially liable for antyhing.
This is causing me lots of stress, unable to conentrate at work, where I am school teacher.
I just want this to be over

phillw

Are you saying that SSB have advised you to drop the case and if you don't, then they won't represent you regardless? 

Firstly, do you have house insurance with legal cover? Or maybe even car insurance? Or are you a member of a union that offers any kind of legal cover?

You might also want to speak to these people.

https://www.specters.co.uk/news/professional-negligence/pure-legal-faces-professional-negligence-claims

and

https://jordanssolicitors.co.uk/2022/07/pure-legal-collapse-we-can-provide-you-with-legal-advice/

I'd speak to amtrust as well though I would suspect they won't tell you anything different than the solicitors that have already contacted them.

Try not to get too stressed about this & don't make any rash decisions. You may have been misled, or you may have misunderstood. It's in the past & you can't change it.

However there are plenty of people in similar situations and if you keep a calm head then you will at least be able to deal with this better.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/collapsed-pure-faces-negligence-claims/5112753.article

https://www.specters.co.uk/news/professional-negligence/pure-legal-faces-professional-negligence-claims