Solicitors have welcomed a Supreme Court decision on professional negligence and causation, in a case brought by a retired miner.
In Perry v Raleys Solicitors [2019] UKSC 5 last week, Mr Perry lost his action against a now defunct law firm for failing to advise him that he was eligible for a services award from the National Coal Board as well as a general damages award for a workplace injury, Vibration White Finger.
The Justices unanimously held in favour of Raleys Solicitors, which went into administration in March 2016.
The Supreme Court agreed with the trial judge that, although the firm failed to advise Mr Perry, a miner, of the potential award, the negligent advice did not cause him any loss as his injury was not debilitating enough for him to make an honest claim for a services award, which required him to show he could no longer carry out tasks such as washing windows. The Justices overturned the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the trial judge had wrongly conducted ‘a trial with a trial’.
BLM’s Jason Nash, partner, and Richard Gould, associate, who acted for Raleys Solicitors (in administration), said: ‘Dishonest claims of course come in a variety of different guises.
‘For those seeking to fairly resist such claims it’s welcome that the Supreme Court has made the clearest of statements to discourage their prosecution.’
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