Help - No win no fee car claim taking forever!

beachbeth

An idiot crashed into us a year last December. We were doing nothing wrong and they tried to cut us up and failed, causing a lot of damage to our car. We also have a witness to this effect.

We had to pay £600 excess as well as an extra £100 on our next insurance renewal, which is very annoying as the accident wasn't our fault.

After about 6 months of waiting for the doctor to send a medical report, getting it wrong and having to do it again, our solicitor prepared all the papers and sent them to the opposite side.

However, they are not responding. They don't answer anything our solicitor throws at them and so now she has started court proceedings. I believe we will receive papers to sign from the court at some point, but what happens if the other side still refuse to respond?

Has anyone else had experience of this? Their insurance is being handled by HCC Claims Services and I can't understand how they can just ignore everything being sent to them. Is it just that they are stringing it along as long as possible because they know they don't have a case?

Quentin

Delaying things is the norm.

Expect years rather than months to settle injury claims.

Crazy_Jamie

It is not unusual for even relatively straightforward personal injury claims to take months to resolve. That's just the nature of the system. I don't know how serious your injuries are/were, but depending on the severity years rather than months certainly isn't uncommon.

Delays in responding to letters is also somewhat normal, notwithstanding the length of the delay of course. You can't expect a response within a few days of sending a letter in general correspondence. Weeks in between responses is not uncommon. However, not responding to letters at all, even before commencement of proceedings, isn't particularly normal.

If indeed HCC Claims Services are stringing the case along by not responding, that will only come back to bite them. Your solicitor is operating under a Conditional Fee Agreement, so not only will they gain back their costs from the other side if they win (which is normal), but they will also gain a bonus (called an uplift) on top of that. So stringing the case out is just going to result in your solicitors building up their costs, which is going to cost them more money in the long run.

In terms of what will happen if they don't respond to court proceedings, your solicitor will apply for Judgment in Default, which if they don't apply to set aside will result in you winning the claim automatically. So they really have nothing to gain by not responding to proceedings, and will be penalised if they ignore them.

beachbeth

Thanks for that. Why can't my solicitor explain things like that?

The thing thats doing my head in really isn't so much the time taken, which is 16 months so far (I know these things aren't quick) its more that I don't know whats going on. I don't understand why the other party aren't responding. If I knew that first (a) is going to happen followed by (b) and then (c) etc then I wouldn't feel so frustrated.

If we win the claim automatically how do they get the money from the other side then?

geri1965_2

I know this may sound obvious, but has your solicitor tried ringing them?

The reason I ask is because I have in the past received letters from solicitors accusing me of ignoring previous correspondence and failing to return voicemail messages when I know for a fact that I haven't received anything from them. Goodness knows what happens to the alleged letters and messages.

Quentin

beachbeth wrote: »

If we win the claim automatically how do they get the money from the other side then?

If that happens, the court will order the other side to pay up. (You will be able to tell the court how quickly you want paying eg "immediately" or "within 14 days" etc.). If they ignore the court order, then you can apply to the court to allow you to send the bailiff round to collect the money.

Crazy_Jamie

geri wrote:

I know this may sound obvious, but has your solicitor tried ringing them?

I was actually going to put this in my post, but didn't because I thought it was too obvious. Still worth checking though.

beachbeth wrote: »

The thing thats doing my head in really isn't so much the time taken, which is 16 months so far (I know these things aren't quick) its more that I don't know whats going on. I don't understand why the other party aren't responding. If I knew that first (a) is going to happen followed by (b) and then (c) etc then I wouldn't feel so frustrated.

If you are confused about anything then do feel free to ring your solicitor up and ask them what the current situation is. Most people have no problem letting their solicitor get on with things, but they are there to keep you informed as well as act on your behalf. So give them a ring if you're unsure about something.

beachbeth wrote:

If we win the claim automatically how do they get the money from the other side then?

Once Judgment in Default is entered Quantum (i.e. the amount you're going to get) still has to be assessed, which again can take time. Once it has been established or agreed one way or the other that you're going to win and how much you're going to get, the court will make a Judgment Order compelling the Defendant to pay the full amount. Usually the Defendant will have 14 days to pay the amount from the date of the Order.

The next logical question is what happens if they don't pay? That can happen sometimes, and in that case you would go down the route of Enforcement (which can take several forms, such as baliffs etc). However, realistically once a Judgment Order is made you will be paid the money. The reason is that the Defendant's Insurer will be dealing with this, and not the Defendant themselves, and it is the Insurer that will pay the money. However, Enforcement would be against the Defendant personally, because they are named in the action. I'm sure you'll appreciate that no Insurer wants their customer to get a visit from the baliffs because the Insurer didn't pay the money in time. So realistically the money will be paid in the event of a Judgment Order being made.

beachbeth

Most of the time when I ring my solicitor I get put through to her desk and then just get her answerphone. She never rings back if I leave a message. I don't know if the solicitor has actually rang the other people. I will try to ring her again tomorrow and will ask if she has.

I don't actually think it is an obvious question. A few years ago we sold a holiday chalet and sat back and left it to the solicitor. We realised after 2 weeks that nothing was happening and the solicitor wasn't bothering to ring anyone (the people that owned the site it was on etc). So I did all the ringing round and sorting out and got everything moving fast. I had assumed the solicitor would do this but she didn't. If I hadn't done the work I did then we would probably be still waiting for things to happen now!:o

I don't know if this is the norm but solicitors don't seem to do any ringing round or pushing on their client's behalf in my experience.

dacouch

Picking the phone up and ringing is one of the forgotten secrets of Insurance...its amazing how often it gets results

Crazy_Jamie

beachbeth wrote: »

Most of the time when I ring my solicitor I get put through to her desk and then just get her answerphone. She never rings back if I leave a message. I don't know if the solicitor has actually rang the other people. I will try to ring her again tomorrow and will ask if she has.

This is poor customer service to be honest. Your solicitor is no doubt a busy woman, but you are her client and therefore one of her priorities. It only takes a few minutes to ring you and address your concerns.

beachbeth wrote:

I don't know if this is the norm but solicitors don't seem to do any ringing round or pushing on their client's behalf in my experience.

Good solicitors do. The problem is that there are a lot out there who aren't good enough.

Mummy_Jo

My claim was a little complex - not massively so and it took over 7 years to resolve so have patience. These things are rarely over quickly. They may make you an offer too and you will have to decide whether to accept it or not. It is usually a pathetic amount. They may also try and pin a % of the blame on to you as well. My advice is if you were in the right then stick to your guns and stay in it for the long haul.

Good Luck with it all. I hope it doesn't take as long as mine did!

Jo