The dangers of the kitchen sink!

And that’s not just because I’m useless at housework.

It’s a reference to clients who want to bolster their claim by throwing everything in, even the weakest points, in the naive assumption that the more points they have, the better.

Well, unlike the very old (and very dated!) game show, Play Your Cards Right, in law points don’t always make prizes. In fact, they can end up costing you dearly.

I’ve always advised clients to stick to the strong arguments because the weak ones can devalue your case. If you’ve got four good lines of argument and two weak ones, those two weak ones can end up discrediting you and undermining the four good ones.

However, it turns out that there’s another reason!

In a recent high court case a firm of solicitors were sued for negligence. They were successful in having the case thrown out at an early stage in proceedings, on the basis of a line of argument that they raised on correspondence with the other side at the earliest opportunity. That is to say, the other side were on notice of just how good the solicitor’s defence was and should have known not to issue proceedings. However, despite having won, they are only going to be awarded 75% of their costs because they also ran a few lines of argument that had little if any merit, which resulted in the costs being increased unnecessarily.

I always advise clients that litigation is an uncertain practice, and it may be that in this case, the successful party were simply hedging their bets. Nevertheless, it’s a good example of why you shouldn’t necessarily throw everything at the other side or that if you do, you may regret it.

Kleyman and Co solicitors. The full-service law firm. Helping you avoid that sinking feeling.