Pekar v Rickards Legal (No.4)

In *Pekar v Rickards Legal (No.4)*, the Supreme Court of Queensland was asked to determine whether a solicitor, Rickards Legal, had breached its duty of care to its client, Mr. Pekar, by failing to advise him of the potential for a costs order against him in separate proceedings. Mr. Pekar alleged that Rickards Legal had negligently failed to inform him that he might be ordered to pay the costs of the other parties in those proceedings, a failure which he claimed caused him financial loss.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the duty of care owed by a solicitor to their client extended to advising on the potential for adverse costs orders in separate, but related, litigation. Specifically, the Court had to consider the scope of Rickards Legal's retainer and whether the advice sought or provided encompassed the risk of being ordered to pay the costs of third parties in the underlying proceedings.

Judge Burchardt found that the retainer between Mr. Pekar and Rickards Legal did not extend to providing advice on the potential for adverse costs orders in the separate proceedings. The Court reasoned that the solicitor's duty of care is generally confined to the scope of the retainer and the specific instructions given by the client. In this instance, the advice sought and provided related to the merits of the substantive legal matter, not the potential for adverse costs orders in unrelated litigation. Therefore, Rickards Legal had not breached its duty of care to Mr. Pekar.