Former solicitors sued for failure to pursue medical negligence claim
It was not until three days later the hospital realised the denture had punctured Maria’s colon, which resulted in peritonitis. This necessitated major surgery, which would otherwise have been avoided.
Maria was left with a colostomy for five months and, unsurprisingly, became depressed and anxious.
Maria instructed a firm of solicitors to pursue a negligence claim. Her solicitor investigated the hospital but failed to consider a claim against the dentist who fitted the denture.
The former solicitors failed to issue proceedings against the dentist in time. The former solicitors also failed to progress the claim against the hospital properly and failed to comply with various court orders.
Eventually this resulted in the court striking out Maria’s claim and ordering her to pay costs in excess of £20,000 to the hospital’s solicitors.
Maria asked for our help. We investigated and our evidence showed that the denture was unsuitable and should not have been loose.
Maria’s injuries should all have been avoided. We argued that as a result of the failures of the former solicitors Maria had lost the chance of pursuing her claim for damages.
Samantha Critchley acted for Maria. She secured an early interim payment of over £20,000 to cover the costs Maria was ordered to pay.
Despite the defendant solicitors putting a valuation of less than £10,000 on the claim, we obtained a further £50,000 for Maria after some hard negotiations. The claim was funded on a “no win, no fee” basis.
Contact us
For further information about professional negligence claims, please call Samantha Critchley on 03304606812 or email samantha.critchley@fieldfisher.com.
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- You can speak to our medical negligence lawyers on freephone 0800 358 3848
- email us: personalinjury@fieldfisher.com
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All enquiries are completely free of charge and we will investigate all funding options for you including no win, no fee.