*help* Taking Insurance Claim To Court

[babynan]

Hi, I hope that someone might be able to help/clarify some details for me. I will try to explain as briefly as possible.

Last Aug 2008 as my son leftthe Gym car park the barriers came down on his car causing a lot of damage, he was told by an employee that the barriers were faulty. But no sign etc had been displayed to warn anyone of this problem.Anyway, my son had/has full Comp insurance, the repairs to his car were paid for, he had to pay the excess until claim was settled. His insurers were provided with CCTV footage showing this incident along with some photos. To date my son has still not had his excess paid back to him as the Gym are denying responsabilty. My son's insurers informed him they were going to take legal action against the Gym, my son has now had a letter from his insurers solicitors which I have typed in the basics below:

 

Dear Sir,

ACCIDENT DATE: 2nd Aug 2007

I would refer to the above and would confirm that I have been unable to recieve settlement of your claim, it will be necessary to commence County Court Proceedings against the Third party in an attempt to resolve this issue, I attach 3 draft copies of the Court Claim form and particulars of claim that have been prepared on your behalf by ourselves.

At the end of the claim form and also at the end of the particulars of the claim you will find there is a paragraph which states that you belive the contents of the statement to be true. It is important tha he whole of your statement is correct and accurate as to give a false statement to the other party or the court is a crimial offence (and it goes on about fines etc, etc)

You may be expected to attend a small claims hearing to give evidence, the statement attached will form the basis of you evidence. If you are not prepared to attend the haering please let us know as we would recommend not to proceed with the claim, if you state you are prepared to attend then change your mind once court proceedings have started then your legal expenses insurance will not meet any costs incurred and you will be personally responsable for them. Attached is a form for you to sign to confirm that you are prepared to attend the court if required.

Regards.....

 

 

It seems that they intend to file this claim in Worksop, my son lives in London.

On the court claim form thay state that the claim is limited to £3000, then show amount for court cost as £85.00, then in Solicitors costs the say ' to be assessed '

On the attached statement they claim Negligence by the 3rd party (and provide details)

They the have put another header on the statement which is called ' particulars of Loss and Damage and they state the following:

Excess.......£300

Insurers Outlay...... £1613

Incidental expenses.....£35

Total ..... £1948

 

They then say £50 for inconvenience.

 

Then under another Header of ' And the Claimant Claims'

1) Damages limited to £3000

2) Interest (blah blah) £107

3) Interest on unspecifed damages (no Amount shown)

4) Costs on the standard basis

 

 

I hope that this has not gone on to long and we have bored you..... but we are both a bit confused...

Is this the way it should work, shouldn' my Sons Insurers be the ones that take the 3rd party to court?? why would my son be claiming the money back for his insurance company?

 

If it is correct, the court is a long way off, could it not be lodged more locally? would my son be able to claim loss of earnings/and or travel costs?

 

And lastly, we do not know what the solicitors are going to charge, so at the end of it all, if my son wins and gets £3000, then pays his insurers back what they have paid out, could the solicitors say that their costs are equal to or more than the rest of the money he gets? and Of ouse what happens if he losses.... will he have to pay out from his own pocket for anything??

 

I just thought that the insurance companies should be fighting this out between themselves, isnt that what we are paying our premiums for?

 

Would be really grateful of someone could clarify some things for us so that at least we have a better understanding and dont do something that could cost us.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

bump

[never shay die]

It's all pretty standard, yes.

 

It looks like your legal expenses company are taking the third party insurer to court. They have instructed a solicitor and the cost of this is included in your legal protection policy. As such you won't have to pay anything towards the legal cost, even if you lose.

 

Your insurance company have asked the solicitor to include their outlay in the proceedings. They have to do this, otherwise under civil law they may be unable to issue proceedings for their own losses in future.

 

It is quite normal that you will have to attend the hearing to give evidence. You need to speak to the solicitor to discuss the possibility of moving the hearing to a court nearer to you, or alternatively including a fee for travel expenses (this may be included in the 'incidental expenses' they have already claimed).

 

If you win then the court will decide how much the solicitor is entitled to ('costs to be assessed') and the third party insurer will need to pay this on top of the other heads of claim. The cheque for the total sum will be sent to the solicitor. He will then allocate the payments accordingly (i.e. he will send you your £335, your insurer their £1613). The solicitors costs are added on top of the heads of claim and are not taken from the amount you win.

 

Hope this helps. If I was in your position I would definitely go along with it. Not only have you got your £300 to think about but your no claim bonus if your insurer don't get their outlay back. As long as you don't say that your are attending court but then change your mind, there will be no risk to you by going ahead.