Links coughs up £13m in negligence settlement
Linklaters is understood to have paid £13m to settle a professional negligence claim brought by former client Levicom, a Baltic telecoms company.
The settlement brings to an end a row over advice given by Linklaters to Levicom on a dispute the client was involved with in 2001.
Mr Justice Smith ordered Linklaters to pay just £5 in damages to Levicom in 2009 after the firm was found to have acted negligently in its advice, albeit without the advice impacting on the loss made by the claimant (The Lawyer, 22 April 2009).
However, a year later the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling, stating that it was up to the firm to show that its advice had not resulted in a major loss for Levicom (The Lawyer, 11 May 2010).
The parties entered into talks to hammer out a deal and arrived at the £13m figure, a source said, adding: “It was seen as a big win for the claimant considering the first judge asked them [Linklaters] to hand over a fiver.”
Levicom claimed that Linklaters had overstated its chances of winning its legal battle with rival telecoms company Tele2 AB. It alleged that, had it not followed Linklaters’ advice, it would have settled on more favourable terms.
