Court Approval No Defence

Griffin v Kingsmill (CA 8 June 2001)

A child, who had been badly injured in a road traffic accident, was advised there was no reasonable prospect of establishing any liability on the part of any driver and was advised to accept £50,000 in settlement of a claim which, if liability had been proved, would have been worth at least £500,000. The claimant sued on the ground that the settlement was too low and that solicitors and counsel had given negligent advice. There can be no liability for damage caused by a professional’s error of judgment, unless the error or errors could not have been made by a reasonably well informed and competent member of the profession concerned. In the present case the advice given had not been based on a sufficiently careful consideration of the conflicting evidence. The fact that the Master had approved the settlement could not support the defence because he had not seen a number of important documents. In any event, a judge or master approving a settlement is greatly influenced by the view of solicitors and counsel. The claimant succeeded in her claim against the solicitors on the basis of 80% of the full value of the claim. Leave to appeal to the House of Lords was granted.