Litigate or Negotiate?

Richard Moss Solicitors was instructed by a property consultant in respect of his claim against a landowner who wished to develop one of his sites.

Our client’s claim formed three parts. The first part was valued at £70,000 but this part had poor prospects of succeeding at trial. The second part was valued at £20,000 but this part also had poor prospects of success. The third part was valued at around £16,000 and this part had good prospects of success. In other words, the most likely outcome of the litigation was our client being granted a judgment in the sum of £16,000.

At an early stage in the litigation, Richard Moss Solicitors commenced negotiations with the solicitors acting for the landowner with a view to settling our client’s claim on the best possible terms. Those negotiations resulted in the landowner offering to pay our client the sum of £25,000.

Taking into consideration the offer was £9,000 more than the likely outcome of the litigation, our client gladly accepted the landlower’s offer. Furthermore, acceptance of the offer spared our client the costs of proceeding towards trial, the majority of which he would probably not recover from the landowner if and when the first and second part of his claim failed at trial.

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