To Settle or Not to Settle...

Although litigators are usually much better at making attendance notes than their corporate counterparts, it is less common to make attendance notes of successful settlement discussions. This can mean, however, that the solicitor is exposed to liability if the client changes their mind.

In Fraser v Bolt Burdon (2009), one case in a series relating to the settlement of litigation, the High Court considered whether solicitors had been right to advise their client to accept a settlement offer, at the door of the court, of £200,000 plus costs in relation to a claim said to be worth between £15,000 and £1.4 million.

The facts of the dispute stretch back 30 years. Miss Fraser made a medical negligence claim against the health authority which ran St Bartholomew's Hospital ("St Bart's") in relation to the withdrawal of prescriptions of various drugs, in 1982, alleging that the abrupt withdrawal of the drugs caused her serious psychological disturbances.