Professional Negligence and Indemnity: Surrender the Lost Cause

A recent Court of Appeal ruling giving solicitors the right to terminate the retainer of time-wasting claimants has been welcomed by many, but has also created uncertainty.

Solicitors wishing to terminate their retainer with clients intent on pursuing a hopeless case will draw comfort from a recent decision in which the Court supported the solicitors' decision to terminate their retainer with a client wanting to advance arguments which were not properly arguable.

Richard Buxton (Solicitors) v Mills-Owens (2010) concerned a statutory appeal against the grant of planning permission. Counsel had advised the client that the appeal could only proceed on the basis of a procedural or legal error by the planning inspector, and that only one of these grounds had a chance of succeeding.