Firm faces negligence trial as ex-client who became ill in prison seeks damages

Depression: Altrincham-based solicitors accused over the way it conducted defence

Cheshire law firm Grovers is facing a full trial for professional negligence after an ex-client, who suffered psychiatric illness during a prison sentence he says he should never have received, successfully appealed against his case being thrown out.The Court of Appeal unanimously overruled a preliminary decision by Judge Elias in the High Court in Manchester that it was not reasonably foreseeable that the claimant, Martin McLoughlin, would suffer psychiatric damage caused by a negligently conducted defence.

It said a trial should commence as soon as possible.The case - a rare criminal law negligence claim - stemmed from a representative of Altrincham-based Grovers failing to place an advert appealing for witnesses to an alleged assault, as Mr McLoughlin says he instructed, and the claimant subsequently being sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

Once convicted, Mr McLoughlin suffered reactive depression, only for a belated advert to attract witnesses who cleared his name at a re-trial.

He claimed compensation for general damages from Grovers for breach of contract and/or negligence.Criminal law matters account for fewer than 1% of all professional negligence claims against solicitors.Lord Justice Brooke said: 'A material cause of Mr McLoughlin's illness was his belief that he would not have been convicted and imprisoned if his solicitors had handled his case with appropriate care.' He said this was a factor of which the defendant firm should have been aware.

'Anyone who reads the newspapers is familiar with the distressing psychiatric disorders suffered by released prisoners in "miscarriage of justice" cases,' he said.Lady Justice Hale criticised the test of forseeability - 'what a reasonable man would have said' - used in the preliminary hearing.

'The question of forseeability must be considered in relation to the particular claimant, and what the defendants knew or ought to have known about him,' she said.Eddie Jones, Mr McLoughlin's solicitor and a partner at Manchester firm Jones Maidment Wilson, said: 'Our client is very happy that his appeal succeeded, but we all realise there is still some way to go before we are successful and the justice we hope for is obtained.'He added that there would be a case management conference early in the new year.Fellow Manchester firm James Chapman & Co, which is acting for Grovers, declined to comment.Andrew Towler