“I was involved in a car accident 4 years ago and I banged my head on the steering wheel and suffered whiplash. I told my solicitor about the bang to my head and the fact that I suffered with headaches after the accident but he seemed more interested in my whiplash and simply obtained a report from my GP which said that my whiplash should resolve in 6 months. I received £1,000 damages but it has now become apparent that I suffered a brain injury after banging my head and this has affected my memory. I may also suffer epilepsy in the future. Is it too late to do anything?”

No. You have got 6 years to sue your solicitor for damages from the date he entered into a contract with you to provide his services.

I clearly do not have access to all of the facts but if you told your solicitor that you banged your head in the car accident and suffered with headaches thereafter then I consider that it was negligent of your solicitor to fail to investigate your head injury further. If he had instructed a Consultant Neurosurgeon to examine you and possibly carry out a scan of your brain, the damage you sustained may have come to light earlier and you could have claimed additional compensation from the third party in your case.

As you only have 3 years to bring a claim against the third party, it would be too late to pursue them for further damages and, in any event, your solicitor probably accepted the sum of £1,000 ‘in full and final settlement of all claims’. It is not, however, too late to sue your solicitor and to claim from him the damages that you should have received originally if your claim had been properly investigated. Naturally, the burden is on you to prove that your current problems have been caused by the car accident and you should instruct a solicitor immediately to look into this for you.