No win no fee charges

Hi,

My sister went to a solicitor almost 7 years ago (when she was 19) regarding a personal injury claim, after a court hearing & an appeal she was unsuccessful but not on the basis that the accident didn't happen, on the basis that the other party were not negligent. She recently received a letter from the other parties solicitor with a bill for almost €19,000 & after contacting them they have informed her that it is up to her to pay this & that she should have been informed of this when her solicitor agreed to take the case, she kept every letter from her solicitor & the initial letter accepting the case does not mention any potential fees for the other party & neither do any of the subsequent letters. She has tried contacting her solicitor but they will not return her calls.

Is there anything she can do about this? Were her solicitors obliged to advise her of potential fees? Also she does not have the money to pay this, what could possibly happen if it is decided she has to pay this?

Any advice welcome.

Regards,

aimc

I thought that "no win no fee" didn't necessarily mean "no charge" as it only refers to the solicitor's professional fee and not other related charges or something like that? What sort of contract did she sight with the solicitor and what does it state about charges? What way was the bill broken down?

where did my post go

where did my post go

It was deleted by a moderator because it added nothing to the discussion of the substantive issue and only served to antagonise the original poster. If you want to open a separate discussion about the rights and wrongs of claiming compensation feel free to do so.

Unfortunately litigation is a costly (and inherently risky) exercise despite what the ads tell (or told) us and if a case goes to court someone has to pick up the tab.

Hi,

I have a copy of her original letter & it says the following;

"Finally, with regard to the matter of fees, as you are aware we do not charge any fee until & unless the claim is successfully prosecuted"

it then goes on to explain that they can't give an exact figure but explain how 'their' fee is generally broken down....etc. The letter makes no reference to a potential fee if the case is lost. The bill she recieved is broken down into several minor parts including witness expenses, consultation fees, copying, attending counsel & the bulk of it is paying senior counsel & joe bloggs B.L.

Does she have any comeback with her solicitor if they failed to inform her of these fees & again what could because she doesn't have the €19,000 to pay this?

aimc

You took a risk, you had your day in court, and the court found against you !

Of course you should pay the defendants fees. Why should anyone else pick up the tab for you ?

Good to see that claimants are being pursued for the costs of unsuccessful claims. Perhaps, it’ll put a lid on the whole compo culture ethos that costs businesses and the State millions each year

fees

From your post it would appear that your correspondance only relates to your solicitors fees. (ie you did not have to pay him if you did not win the case).

However, the other side also had solicitors and because you lost the case, you are liable for their costs.

In terms of your options, I would imagine that failure to pay will only result in further court appearances (and associated fees) as the other side pursue their costs.

Hi,

Well N0elC, i thought this was a forum for advice? I think you have issues with people who genuinely do have an accident & look for compensation, if a member of your family had an accident that prevented them from playing a sport & had to endure 6 months of physiotherapy while studying 30 hrs a week in college you wouldn't be happy to hear they were being charged €19,000 for trying to exercise their rights. If you have nothing positive to say you should perhaps keep your sinister comments to yourself.

aimc

i saw nothing sinister in noels comments which echoed my own deleted post. the courts did not sympathize with your sister, why should anyone else. if you think she was treated unfairly, why not post the full story here so people can form a more informed opinion. the other party who the court found to be not negligent did nothing wrong and did not ask to be sued. the entire proceedings were instigated by your sister, no one else. no one else is responsible. tax dodgers get no help here. IMHO this is a million times worse as it directly inflicts untold stress on individuals and costs jobs.

...if a member of your family had an accident that prevented them from playing a sport & had to endure 6 months of physiotherapy while studying 30 hrs a week in college you wouldn't be happy to hear they were being charged €19,000 for trying to exercise their rights...

Click to expand...

I wouldn't be happy with them runnin' for compo, I'd tell them to cop themselves on. Accidents happen, especially on the sportsfield. Indeed, as they were a student, and presumably not earning, then the financial loss would be minimal.

As you say, you came here looking for advice, and the advice seems to be: pay up for the fees you have caused others to incur as a result of your failed claim, and be more careful before you run for a lawyer in future !

Indeed, given your sporting prowess, be more careful before you run for any reason at all !!!

Hi aimc,

Ill restate the substantive question here:

Were her solicitors obliged to advise her of the potential downside should she loose the action?

Guys if you want to start an interesting debate on the 'compo culture' then perhaps you could do so on the letting off steam section.

ajapale

ajapale,

You make a fair point when you say . . .

if you want to start an interesting debate on the 'compo culture' then perhaps you could do so on the letting off steam section

Click to expand...

However, the original poster has raised this himself by attempting to justify his sister's failed claim.

I mean realistically, how could an adult expect some one else to pick up the tab for them for not one, but two failed claims ?

Maybe she could find another "no win - no fee" solicitor to fight her case for her ?

Hi aimc

Let's take this in stages. Your sister took a legal action. Her solicitor told her that he would not charge a fee if she lost the case. I think most people would understand that they would have to pay the costs of the other side if they lost their case. I don't know what the solicitors are supposed to tell their clients. They should be obliged to tell the person that they face a big loss if they lose their case.

Your sister lost her initial case. I really find it very hard to believe that in deciding whether to appeal, your sister did not think of the cost implications. Again, the solicitor should have explained them to her and given her some estimate of the cost of the appeal.

So where does your sister stand now? The other side has a right to their costs and your sister has an obligation to pay them. If someone sues me and loses their case, I would want my costs paid. They can't get blood out of a stone. If your sister has no money or no house, then they won't be able to get the money from her. She won't be jailed for failing to pay a legal debt if she has no money. If she has a house, they can get a judgement mortgage against her. This means that she will be unable to sell the house without paying them first.

Your sister should make a complaint to the Law Society. If they find in her favour, they could order him to pay her costs.

Eamonn666 and NoelC - I know exactly where you are coming from and you have a right to express a view, but could you be a little less aggressive in expressing that view , particularly to newcomers?

Brendan

Well said, Brendan.

I'm as inclined as anybody else on this site to rush to judgment in all sorts of cases and have frequently been guilty of intemperate posting (even having the distinction of Brendan having to delete a recent post of mine concerning a so-called mutual institution in this state...).

However, we know nothing here other than that a young woman took a P.I. case and lost, in circumstances where she appears to have been unaware as to a potential liability.

Prima facie, as our bewigged friends would undoubtedly say, she appears deserving of some sympathy. She is not the sole cause of the compensation culture Eamon66 and NoelC are, quite rightly, so exercised about.

She should contact the Law Society. It seems to me to be reasonable that a solicitor should explain to a very young person in some detail the risks involved in 'no foal no fee' litigation.

no foal no fee

her solicitors had a duty to inform her of the risks in pusuing the case and the appeal.
she is caught for the other side's fees

there is a judge, jury, and hangman culture on this site that Brendan, you should curtail.

Ryanair was censored to death, the various moderators censor all over the place (and not always fairly or unbiased) so the judgemental hang'em high mob should be curtailed as well.

The guy arrived at the site looking for advice and that is what he should of got.

He did not arrive at "letting of steam" with a kite to fly

enuff said, C

Hi,

Cerebus, burgessbrendan, ajapale & oysterman thank you all very much, this is the advice i was seeking in the first place, haven't used this forum many times but i was beginning to think i wouldn't again until you guys saw that i was purely looking for advice & not criticism.

Can any of you advise me how she should go about contacting the law society? Also will it turn into more court appearances or do they act as an independent adjudicator?

aimc

the various moderators censor all over the place (and not always fairly or unbiased)

Here we go again ... Bit of a tangent here but perhaps you could give specific examples of the sort of moderation which you consider inappropriate or biased? I'm not saying that we always get it right but I am very confident that individual moderators act in good faith and do not arbitrarily censor material just because they disagree with it (as opposed to it being potentially offensive or a nuisance - which can sometimes be a subjective judgement call). Did you consider my earlier intervention in this topic (to remove a bit of a tirade against "compo culture" in an attempt to allow the discussion to consider the original query as posted in good faith until/unless proved otherwise) inappropriate for example? What other recent examples of inappropriate moderation can you cite?

Leave all emotion out of this. Her solicitors had a duty to explain to her the nature of her contract with them. That’s all. They did this – no win no fee - so I don’t see how anybody could say the solicitors were at fault. If she wanted legal advice on contingent aspects she could have asked her solicitors for this. This could, depending on the solicitors, have resulted in an additional fee. But you cannot expect solicitors, unless they were specifically asked for their professional opinion, to second guess what the other party might do if the claimant were to lose her case. Or to provide this advice unless it were specifically asked for. And while the claimant was 19 years old at the time, there were presumably parents, relatives etc. more experienced in the ways of the world that could or should have been contacted for advice. If your sister is genuinely aggrieved you should look at the Law Society’s web site www.lawsociety.ie where you will see that complaints against solicitors can be entertained if they are complaints about inadequate services; about excessive fees and about misconduct. In your sister’s case this is one of inadequate services. You will also see that the Law Society cannot (or will not? ) investigate complaints on inadequate professional services if they relate to services provided by a solicitor more than five years ago. In your original post you said that your sister initially contacted her solicitor 7 years go. So they may not consider your complaint. But you still should make a complaint under their scheme, you will find details on the web site, and see what happens.

clubby

clubby

No, I was not refeering the compo culture bit being removed as you SHOULD have gathered from the tone of my reply.

If it had been the case then I would have directed the comment at you.

My general comment on the censonship culture and the lack of objectivity of the moderators, etc on certain topics or points of view still stands.

Still, a bit touchy, are we not?
Do you have a cap?

C