A personal injury solicitor who failed to disclose information that had the potential to wreck his client’s case has been struck off the roll. Paul Andrew Smith, admitted in May 2002, had made a file note that the medical evidence he had received was ‘catastrophic’ to the chances of success and potentially put his client at risk of a fundamental dishonesty finding.
Smith, who worked for Nottingham firm Rothera Bray at the time, did not tell the client he had this information and continued to mislead all sides for several months before the truth emerged.
He made an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority that he should be struck off. A newly published decision states that the sanction was approved by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal last month.
Smith was representing a client who had been pregnant when she was involved as a passenger in a road traffic accident. The woman suffered abdominal pain as a result and gave birth to her child via caesarean section.
A key part of her claim, which was contested by the driver and insurance company, was that she had intended to have a natural birth.
In August 2022, Smith obtained medical records which clearly stated that the client had told her GP she wanted a caesarean. The same month, the court ordered that the birth plan and related medical notes be disclosed.
Smith told the client he had not received the medical notes or birth plan and prepared a list of documents to that effect for her to approve and sign. He allowed her to sign a witness statement giving an untrue account of documents that were available, an act which could have led to contempt of court proceedings.
At the end of December 2022, Smith emailed the court and the defendants’ lawyers and stated that the client had no copies of any medical notes relevant to the issue of a birthing plan. The solicitor further said that a request had been made for such records but these could still not be located.
It was not until an internal meeting at the firm in January 2023 that Smith accepted for the first time that he had the records but had not disclosed them.
The tribunal said it was unable to determine Smith’s motives, but it was clear that his conduct was sustained over a number of months and that his actions constituted serious misconduct.
Smith was struck off and ordered to pay £7,500 costs.
