Financial Misselling and Professional Negligence
High Value Financial Misselling Claims
Carter-Ruck's commercial litigation team has a formidable track-record of acting in high value (over £100,000) financial misselling claims for compensation against institutions including banks, pensions providers and financial and tax advisers. The firm has secured numerous six and seven figure settlements for a variety of clients. For example, Carter-Ruck is currently engaged in a number of high value claims against leading banks over the misselling of "interest rate protection" products known as "swaps". The products were sold to numerous individuals and small businesses as protection against interest rate rises on their mortgage repayments, but when interest rates fell these customers were left paying increased monthly repayments and are faced with substantial "termination penalties" or "breakage costs" to escape from the product. The common theme is that customers were told of the supposed benefits but not the risks, including the very high exit fees and the risk of increased payments if the base rate fell.
For further information about swap products, please see article by Stevie Loughrey.
Carter-Ruck's financial misselling practice has also been featured in a BBC article concerning interest rate swaps.
While large financial institutions will often try to suggest that clients' losses are the result of market forces during the economic crisis, it is frequently the case that investors have suffered losses as a result of negligent financial advice, breach of contract, breach of financial regulations (such as those of the Financial Services Authority) or even outright fraud. Carter-Ruck is well placed to advise on such complaints and to bring High Court proceedings or take other action as may be appropriate such as complaining to the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Professional Negligence
The firm is highly experienced in bringing negligence claims against solicitors, accountants, surveyors and other professionals.
Funding of Financial Misselling and Professional Negligence Claims
Individuals often feel daunted about the prospect of challenging large corporations and professional advisers head-on when seeking compensation for their losses, not least given the potential costs of litigation. However, the costs need not be prohibitive.
A more level playing field can be achieved through the use of Conditional Fee ('no win, no fee') Agreements, backed by a litigation insurance policy, which Carter-Ruck is able to offer in appropriate cases.
Carter-Ruck has represented clients on the basis of Conditional Fee Agreements for over ten years; when backed with After The Event ('ATE') insurance, the costs risks are minimised in the event of losing. ATE insurance can be arranged without the need to pay an up-front premium.
Such funding arrangements are therefore highly effective in financial misselling cases, not only giving clients peace of mind as to their costs exposure, but also forcing defendants to focus on the merits of a claim, because it is much more difficult for them to outmanoeuvre claimants financially.
For more details of Carter-Ruck's CFA scheme, and the ATE insurance they can offer, please see Funding. See also The Times, 7 May 2009: "Credit-crunch victims turn to no-win, no-fee for help".
If you believe you have a high-value potential compensation claim for financial misselling (including relating to pensions misselling, film finance schemes, equity release schemes and option award schemes) or negligent financial or other professional advice, please contact one of the following Partners: