Ms H instructed the service provider in respect of her divorce and the related finances. During the service provider’s work on her matter, an error led to the service provider sharing Ms H’s address with her ex-husband. Ms H had specifically instructed the service provider not to share her personal information with the other party.
Due to the seriousness of the complaint and Ms H’s concerns, the service provider decided to stop acting for her, as they stated a conflict of interest had arisen. Ms H then raised a complaint.
Ms H complained to the service provider about:
The service provider apologised profusely, explained their actions, and offered a significant bill reduction by way of a remedy.
Ms H was unhappy with the service provider’s offer and escalated her complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
The complaint was reviewed on receipt and passed to the early resolution team, in light of the very significant offer being made by the service provider.
The view of the Early Resolution team was that it was reasonable for the service provider to stop acting where they had a reasonable belief that a conflict of interest had arisen. It was also the case that, whilst the disclosure of personal information was very distressing, the remedies for such issues are usually within the Legal Ombudsman’s Significant category of compensation for emotional effects, which is between £250 and £750.
The offer from the service provider exceeded the amount that the Legal Ombudsman would be likely to award, so it was explained to Ms H that the Legal Ombudsman would consider the offer made by the service provider to be reasonable. Ms H decided to accept that view and her complaint was resolved as an agreed outcome.
As the service provider’s complaints handling was reasonable, and the complaint was resolved by Early Resolution, no case fee was payable.
