Valencia v Wlodarcyzk and Co

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Valencia v. Wlodarcyzk & Co [2003] QDC 337

PARTIES:

JORGE ALBERTO VALENCIA (Plaintiff)

v.

CHRIS WLODARCYZK & COMPANY (a firm) (Defendant)

FILE NO/S:

D5527 of 2001

DIVISION:

PROCEEDING:

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court

DELIVERED ON:

22 September 2003

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

JUDGE:

Boyce DCJ

ORDER:

Claim dismissed with costs

CATCHWORDS:

Professional negligence – solicitors – negligence in compromise of personal injury claim – psychiatric injury

COUNSEL:

Mr. S. Farrell for the plaintiff
Mr. R. Morton for the defendant

SOLICITORS:

Murphy Schmidt for plaintiff
Quinlan Miller & Treston for defendant

1. This action is brought by the plaintiff (whom I shall call “Mr. Valencia”) against the defendant firm of solicitors (whom I shall refer to as “the solicitors”). 

1. Mr. Valencia claims damages for the loss of an opportunity occasioned by the negligence and/or breach of contract of the solicitors in the compromise of a personal injury claim in June 1997.

1. Mr. Valencia was involved in a motor accident in Brisbane  on 13 November 1996. (“the first accident”).  He consulted the solicitors in November 1996. 

1. The solicitors negotiated with the licensed insurer (“Suncorp”) and settled the claim in June 1997 for $10,000 “all up”.

1. These proceedings were commenced on 19 November 2001.  Mr. Valencia asserts (inter alia) that the solicitors:

(a)        Failed to obtain specialist psychiatric opinion regarding Mr. Valencia’s psychiatric injuries;

(b)        Failed to appreciate and/or competently assess the quantum of Mr. Valencia’s claim;

(c)        Failed to undertake all the necessary investigations into the quantum of Mr. Valencia’s claim prior to settling the claim;

(d)        Settled Mr. Valencia’s claim prior to the stabilisation of Mr. Valencia’s injuries or otherwise at a time prior to the conclusion of medical investigation into Mr. Valencia’s injuries;

(e)        Failed to provide adequate or any competent advice to Mr. Valencia regarding the quantum of his claim;

(f)        Settled Mr. Valencia’s claim for a sum substantially less than he would have received at trial.

1. The statement of claim asserts that if competently prosecuted Mr. Valencia’s claim would have been heard at trial about November 2000 and general damages would have been assessed at some $60,000.  His total claim is in the sum of $71,414.69.

The History Of The Personal Injury Claim

1. Mr. Valencia was born on 9 May 1933.  He obtained a social security pension in 1995.  The exact status of that pension is unclear. 

1. He was therefore a pensioner at the time of the accident on 14 November 1996. At no time was there any claim made for past economic loss or future economic loss. 

1. A chronology of events was prepared by the solicitors for Mr. Valencia and I set out

that chronology:

DATE	EVENT
09/05/1993	Plaintiff born in El Salvador
1970	One of the plaintiff’s sons dies in a motor vehicle accident
1980	Immigrated to Costa Rica from El Salvador
16/10/1981	One of the plaintiff’s sons goes missing in El Salvador
08/11/1989	Immigrated to Australia from Costa Rica
13/11/1996	Motor vehicle accident occurred Attended on Emergency Dept of PAH
14/11/1996