Conduct and service

Always give proper informationThese days, most solicitors appreciate the need to ensure that full information is given to privately paying clients about accumulating costs...Always give proper informationThese days, most solicitors appreciate the need to ensure that full information is given to privately paying clients about accumulating costs and the chances of costs recovery, particularly in litigious matters.

However, some still seem to regard the requirements of Law Society practice rule 15 in this respect as superfluous when the client is in receipt of some form of costs assistance.

This column has referred before to the dangers of this where the client is legally aided, but a recent case where the client had legal expenses insurance illustrated the same principle.The client was pursuing a claim for damages following a road traffic accident in which she sustained whiplash injuries.

During its course she had several scans and was seen by three orthopaedic surgeons and two doctors.

However, it appeared that some of this attention was for medical purposes other than to support the litigation.

The problem was that the clients insurance covered only disbursements incurred in the pursuit of the litigation.

Also, her solicitors failed to explain which expenses were covered by the insurance and which were not.

Instead they gave the impression that all her expenses were covered.

That was certainly the clients understanding, as was demonstrated in at least one letter.

However, even then the solicitors did nothing to correct the clients erroneous understanding.

Indeed, their actions served only to reinforce her expectations.

It was two years after instruction that the solicitors told the client for the first time that it was possible that the insurers might not pay for costs incurred for the purposes of treatment.

Even then, they said they would try to get them reimbursed by the insurance company.

Then, six months later, when the insurers made their position clear, the solicitors still only told the client the insurers were not prepared to fund further treatment.Eventually the client accepted a settlement offer from which a proportion of the medical expenses was deducted.

The solicitors wrote to their client saying she may be surprised to learn that her medical fees amounted to just less than 3,000.If she was surprised, the solicitors should not have been by her complaint about the deduction.

Unfortunately, the solicitors, oblivious of their shortcomings, aggravated matters by failing to take proper heed of the clients subsequent complaint.The firm was ordered to pay the client a sum that made up the shortfall on her damages plus 600 compensation.

LawyerlineFacing a complaint? Need advice on how to handle it? Get in touch with Mike Frith at LAWYERLINE, the support service offered by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, tel: 0870 606 2588.