Professional Negligence Claims Explained.

Professional negligence claims can occur in a company or industry of any size. Failure to act in a professional manner and a client suffering as a result could lead to this. Without due care and attention, your actions could land you in hot water. This can, inevitably, lead to a professional negligence claim.

In this article, our solicitors cover all aspects of professional negligence claims. For further information, visit our professional negligence page.

Professional negligence claims.

There are many forms of professional negligence, but some of the most common are:

• Accountant negligence: giving poor financial advice
• Clinical negligence (also called medical negligence). This involves cutting corners with precautions to the detriment of someone’s health
• Architectural negligence: providing poor, misleading or false architectural advice
• Legal negligence: giving substandard legal advice

Broadly speaking, professional negligence happens when a professional fails to meet set standards. You may be able to make a claim based on one or more of the following:

• Duty of care: You entered into a contract (either written or verbal) in which you were due to receive duty of care. In laymen’s terms, this means you agreed to receive a service (which could mean advice).
• Breach of duty: The person(s) who gave you the service or advice did not uphold professional standards.
• Loss suffered: You have suffered loss as a result of their negligent actions (this loss could be financial/health etc.).

If the three things all apply, you could make a professional negligence claim.

Professional negligence claims: contract or tort?

A tortious duty of care can arise regardless of if there is a contractual relationship between parties or not.

Where there is a contractual relationship, the professional may owe concurrent duties in contract and in tort. A concurrent duty in contract and tort exists where a claimant can build a tortious claim on either the:

• Defendant’s undertaking based in contract.
• Defendant’s negligence in performing the contract. This must have caused harm to the claimant’s property or financial interests.

As a general rule, professionals assume responsibility towards their clients. Thus, they owe them both a duty of care in tort and contractual obligations. These duties are not necessarily co-extensive however. The contract may impose obligations that are more onerous than the duty of care imposed by the law of tort.

Moreover, a tort may not exist if the failed duty does not incur any contractual issues. For example, the parties may have agreed that tortious remedies do not apply in scenarios not covered by the contract.

A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant harm or a loss. This results in legal culpability for who caused it.

Typically, a tort will lead to a lawsuit filing for monetary damages.

Differences between claims in contract and tort.

Where there is a concurrent duty, the claimant can choose whether to bring his action in contract or tort.

One factor that might determine this choice is limitation. The basic limitation period for both contract and tort actions is the same. This is six years after the final date on which the relevant cause of action accrues. However, there are a couple of differences:

• In contract, the cause of action begins as soon as a breach in the contract occurs.
• In tort, no cause of action accrues until all elements of duty, breach and damage are present.

Therefore, even if the contractual claim has become statute-barred, it is still possible to claim for negligence.

The advantages of one claim may outweigh another. This is because of the differences between an action in contract and an action in tort. Some of these differences involve the measure of damages or contributory negligence.