Reference no: EM133472812
Sadly, Kristiyana's father recently passed away. Her father had prepared a Will six months earlier leaving Kristiyana $500,000 out of a 2-million-dollar Estate.
Kristiyana was devastated to learn that the rest of her father's Estate had been left to her brother. Kristiyana wished to challenge the validity of the Will wanting more money and sought the advice of Mawar, a solicitor who worked for the "Nononcence Legal Firm".
Mawar led Kristiyana to believe that she had a strong case to challenge her father's Will allowing her to receive more funds from the Estate. Kristiyana accepted Mawar's advice and agreed to use Mawar's legal services to begin proceedings to contest the Will and claim an extra $500,000. As part of the services provided by Mawar, Kristiyana attended many appointments which extended over several months. Kristiyana regularly asked questions in her appointments to clarify the strength of her claim against the Estate. Each time Mawar reassured Kristiyana that she was entitled to a larger share of her father's Estate confirming in written correspondence she would likely be successful in obtaining an order from court in her favour but she did not expect the matter to escalate beyond pre-litigation correspondence. However, Mawar does not inform Kristiyana that she is entitled to obtain independent advice from another solicitor to ensure she understood the terms of her agreement with Nononcence and whether it would be in her interest to move forward with services from the firm.
As the appointments with Mawar continued, Kristiyana had to take out a progressive bank loan to pay for the legal costs associated with her claim, which she expected to recoup with the increased value of her inheritance.
After a year without resolution to the case Kristiyana expressed her frustration with Mawar about the delays and mounting legal costs related to the claim. Mawar responds that she's just too busy to continue working on Kristiyana's claim and that she now thinks the case against Kristiyana's father's Estate for more money is weak. Mawar encourages Kristiyana to abandon the legal proceedings and accept the original inheritance of $500,000. This would mean that $40,000 of Kristiyana's inheritance would have to be used to pay for unnecessary legal services.
Kristiyana became stressed and furious on hearing this news. Kristiyana accuses Mawar of failing to give adequate information about the merits of her dispute over the Will when she first sought her advice. Kristiyana tells Mawar that had she been better advised during her initial appointments she would have accepted the Will much earlier and avoided unnecessary legal costs.
Task:
Explain whether Kristiyana is able to seek compensation from Mawar through the common law of Negligence. In your answer refer to the relevance of vicarious liability and any defences Mawar may raise against the claim. Use case references to support your arguments.