Mr T instructed the firm to help him pursue a personal injury claim.
The firm made slow progress and didn’t respond when Mr T asked for an update or left messages. Mr T was unable to speak to his solicitor whenever he called, so he had no idea how his case was developing or what his next steps were. Mr T complained about the firm’s lack of communication on 14 March 2022.
The firm responded in full on 4 April 2022. The firm accepted that at times they hadn’t replied to Mr T but argued that there had been no further issues with their service.
The firm said that if Mr T remained unhappy, he should contact the Legal Ombudsman within the next six months. The firm also provided our address, contact number and email address in their response.
Mr T did refer his complaint to us, but not until 22 November 2022.
We determined that Mr T had not referred his complaints to us in time.
The firm’s final response stated that Mr T had six months to contact us and included our contact details. Mr T did not refer his complaint to us until seven months later and did not have any reasons for why he did not act sooner. Because of this we dismissed Mr T’s complaint.
There are some instances when we may accept a complaint for investigation if it is referred to us more than six months after the final response. Examples would be if the firm did not respond or had not provided the necessary information about how long their client had to contact us.
Please read our frequently asked questions for the process used for complaints received by the Legal Ombudsman before 1 April 2023.
