If you have been working with an external business, whether it’s a B2B relationship or you are a customer working with a business, and you feel that your case has been victim to negligence, then you will be entitled to a claim not only for the inconvenience but also for any loss of business, earnings and reputation.
If you want to start the legal steps to make a professional negligence claim, then these are the steps we recommend that you follow.
Table of Contents
Establish the Legal Grounds
To have a successful professional negligence claim, you generally need to prove three specific elements.
Duty of Care: You must show that the professional owed you a duty to perform their job to a certain standard (usually established by a contract or a letter of engagement).
Breach of Duty: You must prove they fell below the standard of a “reasonably competent” professional in their field. Mistakes happen, but negligence is a significant failure.
Causation and Loss: This is the “so what?” factor. You must prove that their mistake directly caused you a quantifiable financial loss.
These are very important before you can open up any case, as without it’s unlikely that you will come out of it any better off and actually can end up with less money than when you started. If you are unsure if you have a strong enough case, consider contacting legal providers such as Been Let Down that have specialised lawyers to help with professional negligence claims.
Follow the Pre-Action Protocol
Most jurisdictions require you to follow a specific “Pre-Action Protocol” before heading to court. This is designed to encourage settlement and keep legal costs down, which overall is a win-win situation. These pre-action protocols can include the following:
Preliminary Notice: Notify the professional as soon as you realise there is an issue.
Letter of Claim: This is a formal document detailing exactly what happened, why you believe they were negligent, and the financial loss you are claiming.
Letter of Acknowledgement: The professional (or their insurer) usually has 21 days to acknowledge your letter.
Letter of Response: They typically have three months to investigate and provide a formal “Letter of Response” admitting or denying liability.
Your professional negligence solicitors will be able to handle and share the correct pre-action protocol.
Gather Your Evidence
A claim is only as strong as its paper trail. Start organising the following:
The Engagement Letter: This defines the scope of their work.
Correspondence: Emails, letters, and notes of phone calls.
Expert Evidence: In many cases, you’ll need a report from another professional in the same field to testify that the work provided was indeed negligent.
Go back as far as you can, whether it’s email chains from the very beginning of the business relationship. The more information you provide, the better, even if you don’t think something will provide value, present it to your lawyers, and they will be able to use it as and where.
Consider Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
The court should be a last resort. Mediation or adjudication is often faster and much cheaper than a full-blown trial. Many professional negligence cases are settled during the Pre-Action Protocol phase once insurers get involved.
Be Mindful of Time Limits
Don’t wait too long. Most professional negligence claims have a statute of limitations (often 6 years from the date of the negligence or the date the damage occurred). If you miss this window, your claim is likely “statute-barred,” meaning you can no longer purs
