Insurance wrongly accepted liability - Advice Needed.

razam

i need some advice about what the next steps are that I can take - if any

Apologies for the long story, but I'll try to make it as brief as possible...

I was in an RTA in May this year. I was driving straight & 3rd Party (3p) was coming from a side road, joining onto my road. At the junction there is traffic lights for both roads. The road for 3p wasn't 90 degree angle, it bends round onto my road, so is more of a 45 degree angle at the traffic lights (this is importnant for a later point).

I drove through green lights & 3p collided with the rear driver-side door. He claimed to have gone through amber, and accused me of going through a red light. A witness stopped to give me his details & said I was in the right. The witness first language was not english.

My insurance company phoned the witness and asked about the car make/model & which was at fault (options given) - he stated my make/model was at fault. I asked my insurance company to re-question the witness based on car colour (eg was black or silver car at fault) as he may not know make/model of car & may have been mistaken. My insurance refused.

Insurance appointed/recommended solicitor called to pursue an injury claim. I advised the above & they stated even if I was at fault, so was 3p due to the visibility at the junction & the rear-side collision. I advised solicitors on my opinion of how to ask witness the question. The solicitors then phoned the witness and he said I was NOT liable for the accident.

Now the solicitors have written to me (3 months after the accident), to say that because the insurance company have accepted liability, they can not pursue an injury claim for me - as they will no longer receive funding. They did not mention the issue of dual-liability claim & said they only phoned the witness (even though my insurance company only phoned as well) and do not have a witness statement.

I have just come back from an initial consultation with another reputable legal firm (the solicitor I talked to, was a member of the Law Society's 'Association of Personal Injury Lawyers') and he advised that due to having Personal Injury Cover with my insurance company I am not eligible for "no-win-no-fee" claims. Also he said that as my insurance company had accepted liability, I was not really in a position to make a claim any way, as it counts strongly against me.

I have now basically lost my insurance excess & any award I may have got through a persoanl injury claim, all because my insurance company accepted liability.

The questions I have are:
*Would the solicitors telephone call & the insurance company's phone call to the witness cancel the statement out?

*Should the insurance company not have contacted me (the person who gave them the witness details) to clarify things before accepting liability?

*Do the insurance company not have a duty to obtain a written witness statement, in the case of a dispute?

*Do I have a case against my insurance company for not acting on my behalf - their client/customer - (ie. not clarifying things with me, not looking into dual-liability option, etc.), but instead going for a quick solution, when dealing with this liability?

Any other information and advice would be greatly appreciated.

apologies again for the long OP.

huckster

As I think you know, these are questions for your Insurers to answer. Have a look in the policy wording, for details of the complaints process for claims and write to the claims manager, asking them to reply to the points you have raised.

You do have the option of going to the Financial Ombudsman, to look into the way your claim has been handled. But they won't get involved if there is any court action involved and they won't look into who was responsible for the accident.

In regard to the way Insurers have acted, I cannot really comment, as I don't have the full facts which would be contained in the documents they hold. It is up to the Insurers to decide on liability, but of course you do have your normal legal rights.

spark_deals

to the op.
How would you prove your point in absence of a witness? Was it single file? The traffic on opposite lane? etc.

razam

spark_deals wrote: »

to the op.
How would you prove your point in absence of a witness? Was it single file? The traffic on opposite lane? etc.

Without a witness statement it would be my word against the 3rd party's, but I believe I would be in a stronger position as the 3rd party hit me from behind (rear-side). Also due to the angle of the side road, the 3rd part would have a clear view of me as they were joining the road, and so could have slowed to avoid the accident.

In addition, I would hope that a proper investigation could be done to see if there was any CCTV cameras, etc. in the area.

Incidently, the solicitor I spoke to today, advised he is very aware of that junction & in majority of the accidents that occur there, the fault lies with the cars coming from the side road (where 3p was coming from). I know this doesn't prove anything for me, but thought i'd mention it.

PNPSUKNET

you can claim for injurys of your insurer sometimes.