injury claim against me?

naz101

im really hoping im in the right place for this.
11 months ago, i was involved in a car accident, which was deemed to be my fauly even though the other driver was speeding(but this cant be proven)
anyway, as far as i was aware everything had been sorted.
today i receive a letter from his accident claim lawyer stating that he wants £5000 from me as his back is still sore!!

i was insured with elephant but have since changed as they were very hard to get money out of for the car

my question is should they defend this claim? any ideas?
im really panicing!!

an1179

i Agree with uktyler pass the letter on un-answered to Elephant they will deal with it.

mattymoo

naz101 wrote: »

my question is should they defend this claim? any ideas?
im really panicing!!

Claims fall into 2 parts, liability and quantum. Liability is already decided so the other person will receive something.

The quantum issue is the size of the claim and will be based on medical reports submitted by the other side. £5k is a small claim so it will simply come down to some negotiation between Elephant and his solicitors.

Crazy_Jamie

As others have said, there is no need to panic. This is exactly why you have insurance in the first place. Pass this on to Elephant and they will deal with it from here onwards.

mattymoo wrote: »

Liability is already decided so the other person will receive something.

Not necessarily. Everything will be subject to medical causation as well. Obviously he will not be receiving anything if he is making the injury up, even if the accident was the OP's fault. There is no indication that that is the case here though, so you are right that more than likely quantum will be the only issue.

naz101

hi guys
thanks for all your replies. its just not good when you come home at 3am from studying to find this on your doorstep

well i called elephant today and they were shocked as they have already paid out £3000 for backpain and the guy now wants another £5000.(no loss of earnings mentioned)
i have to forward the documents on to them and they will deal with it all
they do think that the summons to me might have been a scare tactic to try and get me to pay up myself!!

sarahg1969

naz101 wrote: »

they do think that the summons to me might have been a scare tactic to try and get me to pay up myself!!

Your insurers said that??!! What a load of nonsense. The summons would be because the other driver has already put the claim and all supporting documents to your insurers, and they've failed to settle it quickly, so the next step is Court proceedings. Not because the third party thinks YOU will pay!

hundredk

Presumably medical assessments have been carried out if he's already had £3k payout from elephant. If it's longer term pain/suffering then the claim shouldn't have been settled until the extent of pain/suffering/loss was was fully understood. A cynic might think he's had £3k, thought that was easy and may as well try for some more....

sarahg1969

Are you sure the £3k was for injuries? If so, it's unlikely that he'd now be going for more, to be honest. Was the £3k not for his car?

Is the summons definitely relating to an injury claim? It's not just for hire or anything like that?

naz101

no the £3000 was def for injury. the car payout was separate.

the summons is def for injury.

sarahg1969

naz101 wrote: »

no the £3000 was def for injury. the car payout was separate.

the summons is def for injury.

Did he have any passengers? Is it possible they've paid a passenger claim? It really would be very unusual to accept an injury settlement and then issue a summons for more.

naz101

nope, no passengers either.
the guy on the phone at elephant wasnt really sure but said that the initial payment was deemed as an interim payment by the claimant?
i am really hopeless at this and it comes at a really bad time as my exams start tomorrow!. i just dont do too well with things like this hanging over me