Compensation for Negligence by Solicitors

Do you believe that you have been let down by your legal advisors in a recent compensation claim for asbestos related disease or another form of personal injury? 

Some solicitors may deal with cases themselves rather than referring the case to a firm of specialist solicitors.  If you develop a serious and complex medical problem and go to see your GP, you’d expect the GP to refer you to a specialist consultant at hospital rather than trying to treat you themselves.  However, solicitors don’t always refer on to a specialist since they don’t get paid to do so.

We have dealt with a number of cases where clients have been advised by solicitors that they do not have a case but have then gone on to instruct us and succeed with their claim. This is despite coming to us after time had expired for starting court proceedings. Click here to read our earlier article about cases for asbestos diseases that we handled but which other solicitors had turned away.

Negligence by lawyers may arise in different ways.  For example, failing to issue proceedings in time, giving wrong advice, particularly if this led to a case being undersettled or suing an incorrect defendant or not suing the defendant at all.  These are just a few potential examples.  Specific difficulties may arise in relation to claims for asbestos disease like mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening and lung cancer.  Specialist solicitors are often familiar with certain defendants and even when the company is defunct, may already know their insurers or the best methods for trying to trace previous insurers.  Issues can arise in relation to establishing causation ie that the disease was caused by exposure to asbestos, proving where and how exposure took place and establishing liability.

Time limits do apply in professional negligence claims so it is important that you seek advice as soon as possible. 

Contact us now to see if we can help you to recover compensation.

About Us

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist asbestos solicitors
John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life."   Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of the victims of asbestos.


Further information:
E-mail: mail@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk

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