Read the allegations carefully
Identify what the claimant says you did wrong, what they say should have happened instead, how they say your conduct caused the loss and how that loss has been calculated.
← Professional & Business Claims Defence
Professional Negligence Claims
Received a Letter of Claim?
A formal allegation of professional negligence can quickly become a serious financial, evidential and insurance issue. What happens next matters.
Before giving a detailed response, understand exactly what is being alleged, preserve the relevant evidence, check the applicable timetable and make sure any professional indemnity insurance requirements are dealt with promptly.
Where the Professional Negligence Protocol applies
Know the timetable.
21
Days
Acknowledge the Letter of Claim
The Letter of Claim should normally be acknowledged
in writing within 21 days of receipt.
3
Months
Investigate and respond
The professional normally has three months from the
Letter of Acknowledgment to investigate and provide
the substantive response and/or settlement letter.
The First Steps
What should you do when the letter arrives?
The temptation is often either to fire back an immediate response or to put the letter to one side. Neither is a good substitute for first understanding the claim, the insurance position and the evidence that may eventually decide it.
Check your insurance position
Locate the relevant professional indemnity or liability policy and deal promptly with any notification requirements. Do not assume that informing one intermediary or adviser automatically satisfies every policy requirement.
Preserve the evidence
Keep the relevant emails, files, contracts, advice, working papers, notes, reports and other records. A defensible chronology is often built from documents created long before anybody anticipated litigation.
Do not confuse acknowledgment with a full defence
A procedural acknowledgment and a substantive response are different things. The detailed position should be considered against the documents, allegations, loss and relevant professional standard before it is committed to writing.
Examine the Claim
What does the Letter of Claim actually say?
Where the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol applies, a Letter of Claim is expected to explain the case in sufficient detail for the professional to understand and investigate what is being alleged.
A Letter of Claim is important, but it is not a judgment.
The allegations still have to be examined against the
underlying facts, professional duties, causation,
evidence and claimed loss.
✓
Who is involved?
The claimant, professional and any other parties involved in the dispute or a related dispute should be identifiable.
✓
What happened?
There should normally be a clear chronological summary, including the important dates and identification of the key documents.
✓
What is said to have been done wrong?
The allegations should explain the act or omission relied upon and what the claimant says the professional should have done instead.
✓
How did it allegedly cause the loss?
A professional-negligence case is not simply about proving an error. The claimant should explain the alleged connection between the error and the loss for which compensation is sought.
✓
What loss is being claimed?
The letter should normally provide an estimate of the financial loss and explain how it has been calculated, with supporting material where available.
✓
What documents and experts are involved?
Key documents should be identified and the claimant should confirm whether an expert has been appointed and, if so, the relevant discipline.
Look Beyond the Allegation
A detailed Letter of Claim can still be wrong.
The fact that allegations have been set out formally does not establish negligence, causation or the amount of the claimed loss.
The professional may have contemporaneous documents that change the factual picture. The claimant may misunderstand the scope of the engagement. Advice may have been conditional. Warnings may have been given. The loss may have arisen for another reason, or the amount claimed may be overstated.
The task is therefore not simply to reply to the letter. It is to establish the strongest defensible position supported by the evidence.
“The allegations are the claimant’s case. They are not yet the answer to whether the professional is liable.”
Do Not Forget the Policy
A Letter of Claim can create an insurance issue as well as a liability issue.
Professional indemnity policies commonly contain provisions dealing with notification of claims, circumstances and co-operation with the insurer. The precise wording of the individual policy matters.
If the insurer accepts the notification, it may appoint lawyers to defend the claim. In other cases questions can arise about the policy response itself.
- Has the claim or circumstance been notified correctly?
- Which policy year may respond?
- Has the insurer accepted cover or reserved its rights?
- Is an exclusion, excess or other policy term being relied upon?
- Who is controlling the defence and whose wider interests need considering?
How We Can Help
Build the defence before the position hardens.
Insurance Dispute Service provides fixed-fee claims analysis, case preparation and litigation support for professionals and businesses dealing with substantial claims.
01 / CLAIM
Analyse the allegations
Break the Letter of Claim into duty, alleged breach, causation, loss and the factual propositions that need to be proved or challenged.
02 / EVIDENCE
Build the chronology
Organise the contemporaneous documents and events so the professional’s position can be understood against the actual record rather than hindsight.
03 / INSURANCE
Examine the policy position
Consider the insurer’s response, notification, reservation of rights or other coverage issue where the insurance position has become part of the problem.
04 / STRATEGY
Prepare for the next stage
Help structure the case and, where appropriate, prepare the material for specialist legal advice or Direct Access barrister involvement.
Important Distinction
Architects, engineers and quantity surveyors follow a different protocol.
The Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol specifically excludes claims against architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. Those claims are generally dealt with under the Pre-Action Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes. The correct procedure and timetable should therefore be identified before relying on the 21-day / three-month professional-negligence timetable above.
Common Questions
Received a Letter of Claim: what professionals usually want to know
Does receiving a Letter of Claim mean I am liable?
No. It sets out the claimant’s allegations and proposed case. Liability still depends on the applicable duty, the facts, the professional standard, causation, evidence and loss.
Do I only have 21 days to provide my entire defence?
Not where the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol applies. The 21-day period relates to written acknowledgment of the Letter of Claim. The protocol normally then provides three months from the Letter of Acknowledgment for investigation and the substantive response and/or settlement letter.
What if the Letter of Claim is missing important information?
The protocol provides for the professional to identify non-compliance and explain what further information is reasonably required. That does not mean the letter should simply be ignored.
Should I tell my professional indemnity insurer?
The relevant policy wording should be checked immediately. Notification provisions can be important, and the protocol itself anticipates the Letter of Claim being forwarded to the professional’s insurer where there is one.
What if my insurer has already appointed solicitors?
That may provide the principal legal defence to the claim. There can still be separate questions about the insurance position, your own evidence or wider commercial interests which you may want to understand independently.
Important information
The procedural information on this page concerns the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol where that protocol applies. Different claims can be governed by different pre-action protocols or procedural requirements.
Insurance Dispute Service provides claims analysis, case preparation and litigation support. The appropriate route depends on the claim, policy, evidence, procedure and work required.
This page is general information and is not legal advice. It does not replace advice on a particular claim. Court deadlines, limitation periods, policy notification requirements and applicable procedural timetables should be checked for the individual matter.
Received a Letter of Claim?
Understand the allegations before committing to the response.
If a professional negligence claim has been made against you or your business, speak to us about the claim, evidence and insurance position.