Rajpal Singh Ahluwalia

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The Respondent, a solicitor employed at Clyde & Co handling insurance litigation, mishandled a claim against an insurer client (A Insurer) arising from a gliding accident. He failed to file a Defence in time, allowing a default judgment of £500,000 to be entered on 14 May 2013, and then failed to take steps to set it aside until March 2014. The Tribunal found allegation 1.1 proved (a misleading email purportedly sent to A Insurer on 15 October 2013, deliberately sent to an incorrect address so it would not arrive because he knew it was misleading) including dishonesty and lack of integrity. Allegation 1.2 was also found proved (a misleading report sent to the broker on 10 September 2014) including dishonesty and lack of integrity. Allegations 1.3 and 1.4 (signing statements of truth on a defence and witness statement) were found NOT proved, as the Tribunal accepted the Respondent believed the facts were true and that he had authority. Allegations 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8 were admitted. The supplied text ends before the sanction was recorded.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession