seperate small claim in the county court for legal advice

5th September 2011

can i make a seperate small claim in the county court for the cost of getting legal advice from a solicitor to find out if i have a valid claim despite the insurance company stating i have no case in view of section 58 of the highways act 1980
this presumes the solicitor states i have a valid claim despite the insurance company relying on section 58
i would be putting in 2 claims
one for the incident and one for the cost of the legal advice

Replies (3)

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 08/09/11 at 10:21 am

I'm afraid that you can't have your cake and eat it where legislation is concerned. You can include legal costs in with your claim and if you win, you also get your legal costs back. However, if you lose, you pay your own legal costs and as far as I am aware, you can't make a seperate claim for those costs on the basis that you were unable to understand the situation on your own.

For people who are in your boat, there are 'no win no fee' agreements you can enter into with solicitors. If they agree to take your case, but you don't win, you don't pay the legal costs. That might be something you want to consider.

nigelwynn     posted : 07/09/11 at 3:33 pm

thanks for the reply

reason is i have had the foi report from the council and i do not have a clue if i have a viable claim as the info supplied just seems to be gobble-de-gook

past experience of free advice from cab who asked a solicitor was along the lines of you probably/should have a case

i really do not fancy paying to put in a small claim for it to denied because i have not got a clue on how to correctly present it

my thought was due to the complexity of the legislation involved i would be justified in getting proper paid for legal help and then claiming for that help on the grounds that if the council/insurance company can rely on basically confusing loopholes to deter inexperienced private individuals with legal jargon when that person has a valid claim they should be made to pay the justifiable in the circumstances costs of that person who must get proper legal advice to consider pursuing the matter in the courts

any thoughts please

thanks again

Potholes.co.uk Expert     posted : 06/09/11 at 9:40 am

I'm pretty sure you can't do that and I'm not sure why you would want to. Many solicitors firms offer a free of charge initial consultation of 30 minutes to an hour, during which time they can advise of your chances.