Question regarding settling a claim

twiggy2014

Im hoping someone can help, Im at my wits end with this.
I recently agreed to settle a claim I had but did so over the phone & then was asked to immediately present myself to the solicitors office to sign papers. I didnt & have never signed anything. I am now being told there were no papers to sign & the case is closed?? The figure was quite a lot & I find it hard to believe that there is no paper trail for such a large amount & that I would have not been required to sign anything. It all seems very strange.

goz83

Speak to a solicitor

twiggy2014

Obviously I have but got no joy, difficult to get one to go against another

Pat Mustard

twiggy2014 wrote: »

difficult to get one to go against another

It's not a case of one solicitor acting against another solicitor. It's a case of whether a solicitor that you hire at this stage will be paid for his work, where you say that you have settled your case without legal advice, previously. Few solicitors want to take on work where the prospect of payment seems unlikely.

In any event, if you hire a solicitor, he or she would not act against the other solicitor but on your behalf against a defendant/respondent.

There are some solicitors who take on these types of cases. You will have to ask around and keep looking, in order to find one.

Mr. Incognito

Did you agree to the settlement?

You dont need to sign to give instructions to settle

twiggy2014

No I signed nothing. Its not a case of me hiring another solicitor, I have taken the appropriate steps to issuing a complaint about my legal representative. What I am asking is, surely there would be paper work involved? Anyone I have spoken to agrees it is strange that there was no said paper work to settle the case?

Pat Mustard

twiggy2014 wrote: »

Its not a case of me hiring another solicitor, I have taken the appropriate steps to issuing a complaint about my legal representative.

Ir seems that I misinterpreted your OP. To clarify, did you have a solicitor who acted on your behalf in relation to the settlement?

twiggy2014 wrote: »

surely there would be paper work involved? Anyone I have spoken to agrees it is strange that there was no said paper work to settle the case?

Many cases settle without a written settlement.

twiggy2014

Yes I had a solicitor & I was asked to attend the office to sign papers, I didnt & now I am being told there are no papers to sign? Surely it is common practice to finalize a claim with some form of paper work?

Pat Mustard

twiggy2014 wrote: »

Surely it is common practice to finalize a claim with some form of paper work?

Unwritten settlements are very common. Written settlements are not uncommon either.

Did you instruct your own solicitor to settle your case on your behalf?

twiggy2014

I was given a figure previously & given paper work & a 14 day period to think about it so presumed it would be the same the second time as again I was asked about signing documents but I didnt & then heard nothing from anyone until past the 14 days to when I was told, tough its settled & there is now no papers to be signed & in the mean time my situation had changed so I didnt attent to sign papers nor could I contact them.

Pat Mustard

It's not clear from this what has happened.

You mentioned in your OP that you had agreed to settle your case. At what point did you do that and with whom did you speak in order to settle your case?

Did you contact your solicitor and ask him to settle your case on your behalf?

Mr. Incognito

Most cases are settled outside court with nothing signed.

Solicitors dont settle without firm instructions to do so.

Did you instruct them to settle. Yes or no.

twiggy2014

I met an a date & refused to settle & was told in no uncertain terms that was it, no more offers would be made & we would go to court on a certain date. Then out of the blue a 3rd party rang me at an ungodly hour telling me even though the office was closed they popped in & by chance received a fax from the other side with another offer, I agreed on the phone but presumed I would have the same 14 days as prior & didnt know that I was about to be told the cost of my future treatment had increased. I was asked to come in immediately to sign something but I refused as I wanted to think things through. Then I was informed my treatment was going to cost a lot more than previously agreed so I told them & was told tough. There is absolutely no paper trail for this settlement & I instructed my solicitor to return the cheque immediately & explain circumstances had changed (this was just within the 14 days) he didnt & after another 10 days, several phone calls, letters email etc he finally did write to them but he is telling me tough, its over, end of. Now all of a sudden he hasnt furnished me with his bill (which he never shut up harping on about). I also told him not to furnish me with the cheque but to return it but he threw it through my letter box, not even registered post actually drove to my house & stuck it through the door after me instructing him to return it explaining circumstances had changed. Legally I've since been told there should have been a 14 day period & my signature should have been required.

FreudianSlippers

twiggy2014 wrote: »

I met an a date & refused to settle & was told in no uncertain terms that was it, no more offers would be made & we would go to court on a certain date. Then out of the blue a 3rd party rang me at an ungodly hour telling me even though the office was closed they popped in & by chance received a fax from the other side with another offer, I agreed on the phone but presumed I would have the same 14 days as prior & didnt know that I was about to be told the cost of my future treatment had increased. I was asked to come in immediately to sign something but I refused as I wanted to think things through. Then I was informed my treatment was going to cost a lot more than previously agreed so I told them & was told tough. There is absolutely no paper trail for this settlement & I instructed my solicitor to return the cheque immediately & explain circumstances had changed (this was just within the 14 days) he didnt & after another 10 days, several phone calls, letters email etc he finally did write to them but he is telling me tough, its over, end of. Now all of a sudden he hasnt furnished me with his bill (which he never shut up harping on about). I also told him not to furnish me with the cheque but to return it but he threw it through my letter box, not even registered post actually drove to my house & stuck it through the door after me instructing him to return it explaining circumstances had changed. Legally I've since been told there should have been a 14 day period & my signature should have been required.

Something doesn't add up with this story. You're going to need to instruct a new solicitor that deals with professional negligence and explain it to them in detail... the kind of detail we don't do here.

To be clear, I'm not at all saying you have a case against your initial solicitor, but from the sounds of this post you need new and 3rd party legal advice.

Pat Mustard

twiggy2014 wrote: »

I met an a date & refused to settle & was told in no uncertain terms that was it, no more offers would be made & we would go to court on a certain date. Then out of the blue a 3rd party rang me at an ungodly hour telling me even though the office was closed they popped in & by chance received a fax from the other side with another offer, I agreed on the phone but presumed I would have the same 14 days as prior & didnt know that I was about to be told the cost of my future treatment had increased. I was asked to come in immediately to sign something but I refused as I wanted to think things through. Then I was informed my treatment was going to cost a lot more than previously agreed so I told them & was told tough. There is absolutely no paper trail for this settlement & I instructed my solicitor to return the cheque immediately & explain circumstances had changed (this was just within the 14 days) he didnt & after another 10 days, several phone calls, letters email etc he finally did write to them but he is telling me tough, its over, end of. Now all of a sudden he hasnt furnished me with his bill (which he never shut up harping on about). I also told him not to furnish me with the cheque but to return it but he threw it through my letter box, not even registered post actually drove to my house & stuck it through the door after me instructing him to return it explaining circumstances had changed. Legally I've since been told there should have been a 14 day period & my signature should have been required.

You say that a third party rang you at an ungodly hour to tell you that they had received an offer from the other side. (1) Who was the third party?

You say that you were asked to attend your solicitor's office to sign papers. It is unclear why this happened. (2) Had you asked your solicitor to settle this case on your behalf - yes or no?

twiggy2014

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Something doesn't add up with this story. You're going to need to instruct a new solicitor that deals with professional negligence and explain it to them in detail... the kind of detail we don't do here.

To be clear, I'm not at all saying you have a case against your initial solicitor, but from the sounds of this post you need new and 3rd party legal advice.

I have written to my solicitor now telling him I no longer require him & am hiring a new team. I have written to those that issued the cheque & returned same to them outlining the problems/questions & am going to try reissue my case into court.

twiggy2014

The Mustard wrote: »

You say that a third party rang you at an ungodly hour to tell you that they had received an offer from the other side. (1) Who was the third party?

You say that you were asked to attend your solicitor's office to sign papers. It is unclear why this happened. (2) Had you asked your solicitor to settle this case on your behalf - yes or no?

The person who rang me is someone who helps him out every now & again but is not a solicitor.
I was asked to sign papers as they had agreed a settlement.

Pat Mustard

twiggy2014 wrote: »

The person who rang me is someone who helps him out every now & again but is not a solicitor.
I was asked to sign papers as they had agreed a settlement.

So, to join the dots...

You were in contact with your solicitor's office and you gave instructions for your solicitor to settle your case. A cheque has issued, so it appears that this was done.

You were asked to attend your solicitor's office to sign some papers. You believe that the settlement of your case should have been contingent upon you signing these papers. A person has advised you that it is a legal requirement that you should have had 14 days to resile from settling your case. This person has told you that your signature would have been required in order to settle the case. In any event, the nature of the papers is unclear. You refused to sign the papers.

You then found out that the cost of future medical treatment was going to be more expensive than you had previously anticipated. At this point, you decided that the settlement had been inadequate. You asked your solicitor to return the settlement cheque and to explain that your circumstances had changed. Your solicitor refused to do this. He delivered the cheque to your house.

You have made a complaint about your solicitor.

If you want to take matters further, you will need a new solicitor to advise you.

twiggy2014

Yes that sums it up