Irwin Mitchell's professional negligence team acted for Mr & Mrs Barker who wished to pursue their former solicitors who they alleged acted negligently in the conduct of a neighbour boundary dispute.
During negotiations with the other party to the boundary dispute, their former solicitors did not mark 'without prejudice' correspondence correctly, in that they omitted the phrase 'save as to costs'. They also failed to advise Mr & Mrs Barker of the possible cost consequences of not doing so. As a result, no order as to costs was made, and Mr & Mrs Barker had to pay their own legal costs.
There was strong evidence that had the correspondence been marked correctly, Mr & Mrs Barker would not have had to pay these costs; they would have been paid by the other party to the dispute. The former solicitors were therefore pursued for the amount of these costs.
A letter of claim under the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol was sent to the former solicitors and a swift settlement was achieved for Mr & Mrs Barker.