No foal, no fee on Tribunal case

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Pmc365

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Hi,

I attended a firm of Solicitors about 17 years ago concerning a legal matter. It involved a close relative who died. The firm agreed to take the case on a no win, no fee basis. It was a Tribunal case. There was no other side as in a defendant.

I was subsequently advised that there would be difficulty in proving causation. Over the years, apart from initially applying to the Tribunal, and subsequently seeking and being granted deferrals nothing has happened. It has been gathering dust. I did have about two meetings with a Senior Counsel , who agreed to take the case on a no win no fee basis.

I don't recall being issued with a s.68 letter under the Solicitors Acts. I probably wasnt. I don't recall ever receiving or signing an engagement letter. Probably is none. I think it was verbal. I did write to the different solicitors in the same office who took over the file down through the years thanking them for taking it on a no win no fee. They did not dispute this statement.

No outlay as in witnesses expenses have incurred yet. No defendants incurred any costs. The solicitors wrote to me about four times a year informing me of a deferral. But if it does go to Tribunal hearing I will have to pay witnesses expenses which I was prepared to do. The thing is winning is an uphill battle. I'm now having second thoughts on proceeding. It's a very personal issue and it's dragged on so long.

Question is if I walk away now will I have to pay this Solicitors professional fee. Maybe they want out too and that's why they long fingered it.
It's now reached a head. They want instructions how to proceed as they want an expert witness to prepare a report to see if causation can be proved (probably costing a thousand). No witnesses were retained before this.

Should I ring and say I'm having second thoughts about the report as I can't afford it and about proceeding to Tribunal. See what they say. Somebody said not to declare my hand outright by saying I don't want to go ahead.

I'm just very worried about a big bill from the Solicitor if I pull out.

Advice/ opinions greatly appreciated. I never actually met the latest Soljcitor dealing with it but spoke once on phone and seemed a nice chap.
When I ring him what should I say to him to "send out feelers" of what would happen if I didn't hire the expert witness and have second thoughts about proceeding. I'm just hoping they too want out.
 
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Tricky one. What do you think your close relative who died would have wanted? Just my personnel opinion, I would speak to solicitor regarding your thoughts about fees, see what potential bills maybe coming down the line. Since it bothered you to start the process in the 1st place, I would continue as far as I could. Good luck with it
 
17 years on, does it really matter? If you win, what are you going to get at this stage? That's the first question you should be asking yourself

if you still think it is worthwhile persuing then you should sit down with the solicitor and agree in writing a way forward.
 
A very big problem in answering this question is that OP does not know the actual terms on which the solicitors have been engaged.
That is not a criticism, just an observation.

"No foal no fee" is fine as a general description of an arrangement. However, it is not necessarily a standardised template description.
Put another way, not all "no foal no fee" arrangements may be the same or equal in their implications.
This creates the worry that the OP may be issuing instructions on an uninformed basis - which is most unsatisfactory to them.

Before deciding whether or not to proceed I would now write to the solicitors indicating that you do not seem to be able to find a copy of the original letter of engagement and or the specific terms of the agreement and or your S. 68 letter. Ask for them.

The S.68 letter, AFAIK, came with the Solicitors Act 1994 so you should presumably have been entitled to expect one for something like this.
I think that a S.68 letter is now replaced by a S. 150 letter so don't be confused by that.

When you see what is suggested above it might help you to make a more informed view on what you will do.

Good luck.
 
Doesn't no foal no fee mean if I loose I don't pay the Solicitor I hired? I thought that was clear cut. My question is If I pull out before it reaches the hearing what happens as regards solicitors fees?

There was no engagement letter as I would have remembered such as was my heightened anxiety about legal fees from past experience.

A section 68 letter under the Solicitors Acts would also have been carefully scrutinised by me at the time and I don't remember one.
I don't want to raise any doubt about hiring them on a no foal no fee basis. As I said I reiterated to them in correspondence that it was a no win no fee. This was not contested by them.
 
The phrase no foal no fee originally meant that, if a stallion failed to impregnate the mare, then the mare's owner wouldn't have to pay anything.

In your case, seeing as you're not allowing your selected "stallion" to perform, it's going to be difficult for you to argue that he hasn't delivered the goods!
 
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It's impossible to imagine any no foal no fee deal being activated without prior written agreement in the form of an engagement letter.

Even the mare's owner will insist on that.
 
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