# Solicitor withholding some of my settlement 7 months on....



## Lamps (21 Sep 2012)

Folks I was wondering would someone be able to give me some advice here.

 I recently settled a personal injury case in court for 100k plus party  and party costs. A couple of weeks later my solicitor gave me a 60k and  said he would give me the rest when the bill of costs was sorted.

 7 months on the bill of costs is still not sorted. Is this the norm? My  solicitor is saying he is waiting on the defendants insurers to finalise  what they will pay on the party and party costs. Every time I contact my  solicitor they say its with the Defendants and they'll contact them to  hurry it on but I never hear anything back from them.

 Does it usually take this long? (It hasn't gone to taxation.) Should he  hold onto the 40k while we wait for this to be sorted or should i have  it and then be invoiced by my solicitor for costs out of party and  party (eg PIAB application etc).

  I'm getting fed up now but want to get some general advice before I contact my solicitor again. Thanks.


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## roytheboyo (21 Sep 2012)

That is ridiculous.
Unfortunately you wont be able to get one solicitor to sue another as they have an agreement that they will not sue each other. That is what allows thugs to do things like this.
I would go to their office and refuse to leave until i got my money. Thieves.


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## vandriver (21 Sep 2012)

Who gets the 600+ interest?


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## dazza21ie (16 Oct 2012)

OP it does take time for a party and party bill of costs to be settled. Firstly it takes time to prepare the bill of costs e.g getting invoices from all experts and other professionals such as barristers. Once a party and party bill is submitted there is always a bit of negotiating before it is settled. The bigger the bill the more things there are to negotiate about. At the end of the day the more the solicitor gets paid under the Party and Party Bill of Costs the less you are likely to have to pay in your own costs. It is always a judgment call as to when to stop negotiating about the costs and set the matter down for taxation and this maybe is something you should talk to your solicitor about. The amount your solicitor has retained is also negotiable between you and him so bring it up and see how you get on.


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## dazza21ie (16 Oct 2012)

roytheboyo said:


> That is ridiculous.
> *Unfortunately you wont be able to get one solicitor to sue another as they* *have an agreement that they will not sue each other.* That is what allows thugs to do things like this.
> I would go to their office and refuse to leave until i got my money. Thieves.


 
The number of cases taken against solicitors in the last few years has gone through the roof. The vast majority of those cases are taken by solicitors against solicitors. The only unwritten rule that may exist in some areas is that solicitors would not take a case against another colleague in the same county/bar association and even that is not fully observed.


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## hooksmam (16 Oct 2012)

hi folks i had a friend who was waitin for her money after selling her house waitin 8 months nothing she asked made any differance solicitors get the interest on your money ,,


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## PokerFace (31 Oct 2012)

Something similar happened to me.


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## vandriver (1 Nov 2012)

Contact the Law Society.


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## Purple (1 Nov 2012)

vandriver said:


> Contact the Law Society.



+1 do it today.


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## vandriver (1 Nov 2012)

Here's the relevant page,
 [broken link removed]


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## mf1 (1 Nov 2012)

Umm. Let me see. 

User name: Poker Face

Posts: 1. 

Waits 8 years.

Got an answer a few months ago. Has not done anything.  

Really? 

mf


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## PokerFace (1 Nov 2012)

Sorry, sorry - my bad. I went back to edit the post last night but was interrupted by the youngest who'd overindulged in Hallowe'en marshmallows. Messy.

<details snipped>

Just for Lamps info, it took our solicitor four years to get his costs. Don't know if that means he can keep your 40k until he gets sorted though.


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## PokerFace (2 Nov 2012)

I can hardly believe I'm posting this. We got our money back, with interest paid at 1.5% per anumn. The solicitor sent it back exactly one month after he got the copy of our complaint to the Law Soc. I can't believe it. The letter with money draft was here this evening.

We're still going to let the complaint go ahead though for a whole load of reasons. In case something else happens, I edited the earlier posts. Just for clarification, we had contacted the Law Soc but I'd left that out of my first post due to puking kid. Anyway, I'll let you know what comes of it (if anything).

In the meantime - we feel like we've won the lotto!! Can't believe it!


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## WizardDr (3 Nov 2012)

@PokerFace If you have got what you sought - then if I were you I would let the matter go.


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## serotoninsid (4 Nov 2012)

WizardDr said:


> @PokerFace If you have got what you sought - then if I were you I would let the matter go.


Why? It's patently obvious that there are major issues in terms of the *integrity* of our legal system!


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## WizardDr (4 Nov 2012)

@serotoninsid

Well we have only one side of the story.

Whatever!


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## PokerFace (6 Nov 2012)

We spent all weekend trying to decide what to do. Go after him for keeping the money and see what'll happen with the Law Society, or let it go? I know you do only have one side of the story and in a sense, so do we; that's another reason why we like some answers.

But we're leaning towards letting it go as we've had eight years of hassle over it. Anyway, what'll the Law Society ultimately do now that he's given the money back? Probably nothing. Much as we'd like to see him getting hauled over the coals, it's not going to happen and we'd still be involved with the whole thing. Don't know. Just don't know.


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## Bronte (6 Nov 2012)

The fact you got the money back after 8 years and after you had sent a letter to the Law Society speaks volumes. Please do not let this lie. Bad solicitors must be reported, they do a disservice to good solicitors and to all clients so please continue with the complaint. If your solicitor gets away with this what's to stop him doing it to someone else. 

I would expect the Law Society to not accept a sudden, "oh sorry I forgot to pay this back due to pressure of work/whatever" as an answer to the extreme tardiness in his refund. Probably naively I also expect the Law Society to go through the solicitors books to see if he is fit to practice. Maybe the legal eagles will confirm that I am not so naive.

Just to add Pokerface, the very least you should get is an apology and a full explaination.


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## Lamps (11 Dec 2012)

I have just received my bill in the post and am quite happy with it.
I've gone through my bill and have a few little issues I will take up  with my solicitor, but in general I'm happy enough with the bill and  everything had been explained to me beforehand. 

But before I contact her I was wondering if anyone can confirm if the  following items I have to pay for sound reasonable as I have no idea  what they are and what was involved and can't find any info on the net  about these costs:

I have to pay €95 incl. VAT for "Ex Parte Docket"

I have to pay a barrister i never heard of €250 for "updated  particulars" on one date and another €250 for "updated paticulars" a few  months later. I also have to pay him €150 for "attendance at list to  fix dates" and €150 for "discovery opinion," all these prices excl. VAT  at 23%. Are these reasonable costs and what exactly are they? Why aern't  they covered by the other side?

Other things I need to pay for are the difference and shortfall between  stand by fee's etc which was explained to me and am ok with.

Its cheaper to ask these questions here and Its good to have a bit of  knowledge before returing to my solicitor, any help appreciated.


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