claim for negligence - bridging loan company / finance broker / solicitor.

[tifo]

I hope someone can give advice on this.

 

I know someone looking to raise a claim for negligence against a bridging loan company / finance broker / solicitor.

 

He borrowed an amount from the bridging loan company whilst a commercial mortgage of around £190k was being arranged and due to not paying within the period specified, incurred huge charges. Every time he went to the bridging loan company, the settlement amount had increased by thousands and he would then go back to the bank and borrow some more and back to bridging loan company where the amount had increased again and back to bank and so forth until the bank stopped at £220k.

 

Due to the above, he incurred a lot of charges, not only the unfair ones from the bridging loan company but also from the bank and this affected the business for which the loan was being borrowed. He lost quiet a lot, about £500k.

 

He asked a solicitor to raise a claim against the bridging loan company and was told he had a good case. But the legal fees were too high so he went to a finance company with an in house solicitor who agreed to take the case on lower legal fees.

 

After some time, he was told that he had won the case and the bridging loan company had agreed to pay £1 million in compensation. He knew that the initial case had been won but had no idea what else had happened. Apparently he was told it had gone to High Court etc and a large case had been carried out.

 

Now he's found out it was not true (when the £1 million hasn't been paid).

 

The finance company made the whole thing up with fake court documents, letters etc only to extract money from him in legal fees. Their in house solicitor is not regulated. To date, he's paid around £6k in alleged legal fees.

 

What can he do?

[Ganymede]

The police might be a good start...

[tifo]

The police might be a good start...

 

Yes, that will be done but will not pay for the losses.

[Endymion]

Well, you have two actions to pursue now. One for the claim against the bridging loan company and for the negligence claim against the finance firm.

 

If the finance firm has an in house 'solicitor' then that solicitor will be regulated by the Solicitors Regultation Authority and you will need to contact them immdediately who will launch an investigation. Any such investigation should help any civil action you have against them if they have done something wrong.

 

Realistically, if you are looking to go for a claim between £500k to £1m then you need a damn good solicitor and counsel in your team.

 

Personally I would go and see one a large regional law firm like Eversheds, DLA etc and get them to give you some advice and see if they will run it on a CFA for you. If not they may be able to point you in the right direction to a firm who will.

[tifo]

Well, you have two actions to pursue now. One for the claim against the bridging loan company and for the negligence claim against the finance firm.

 

If the finance firm has an in house 'solicitor' then that solicitor will be regulated by the Solicitors Regultation Authority and you will need to contact them immdediately who will launch an investigation. Any such investigation should help any civil action you have against them if they have done something wrong.

 

Realistically, if you are looking to go for a claim between £500k to £1m then you need a damn good solicitor and counsel in your team.

 

Personally I would go and see one a large regional law firm like Eversheds, DLA etc and get them to give you some advice and see if they will run it on a CFA for you. If not they may be able to point you in the right direction to a firm who will.

 

As I said, the finance firm's in house solicitor is not regulated, though he should be.

 

You are right that there are 2 cases here and the 'customer' is in the process of passing this to a firm for advice. Counsel's advice will be sought if they can do this on CFA. The solicitor will do it on CFA and get ATE insurance to cover their costs.

[wonky100]

Hi Tifo

 

Have you spoken with ILEX to see if their unregulated in house solicitor is a member and if he is make a complaint via them. I know it won't help the person you know but I do know that ILEX could:

 

• exclude a person from membership;

• reprimand or warn the member;

• impose conditions;

In addition the member may be ordered to

pay

• a fine up to £3000;

• costs.

It cannot award compensation to a

complainant.

He probably won't be too worried about most of these sanctions but it'd be nice to think that in such circumstances the "in house solicitor" would end with a fine in the region of £3000.

Good luck

[tifo]

He probably won't be too worried about most of these sanctions but it'd be nice to think that in such circumstances the "in house solicitor" would end with a fine in the region of £3000.

 

Oh, the 'in house solicitor' and the company will end up with a fine much greater than £3,000 .....