Any advice on Getting someone to accept liability??

gardnt1

Hi, had an accident on saturday where a tree decided to fall on my car whilst driving along a country road. Pretty lucky to be still around, but my insurance reckon that i have no hope of anyone admitting liability so basically its a claim on my insurance for a written off car and higher premiums.
I know i am lucky to be here and very thankful for that..it does give you another perspective on life.......i also think that these things are too easy to pass the buck on and the local authority at least should have some responsibility. I have been told the same line by several no win no fee places, but just wondered if there were any suggestions out there?


Thanks, Gardnt1

Cumbrian_Male

who owns the tree?

is it on private or public land?

if private then claim on the homeowners insurance.

If public then who is the local authority? Be prepared for a fight and will probably need a tree surgeon's report as to whether it was diseased etc.

you may be able to claim but it will be long winded, can you be without a car for an extended time? or can you claim on your insurance and the fully recover cost to return to your insurer?

It's an interesting question. let us know what happens.

Astaroth

Irrespective of who owns the tree you will have to prove 3 things

1) what was wrong with the tree
2) the owner should have known/ did know about the problem
3) the owner had ample time from knowing about it to rectify the situation.

These kinds of cases are exceptionally difficult to handle and are very rarely successful - this is even more true with councils who may not see 1 tree on a road for months if not years at a time.

It is up to you, but if a no-win, no-fee solicitor isnt willing to take it on you are most likely going to be throwing good money after bad commissioning independant expert reports on the state of the tree, case law searches etc

gardnt1

The tree is on Council land, but I take your points and this is basically what insurance and no win no fee has said.

Too be honest, its in local press and as long as area is surveyed now to prevent it occuring again, then I'm happy with my life!

http://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/display.var.985032.0.lucky_to_be_alive.php





http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/cityandworcs/tm_headline=blimey%2D-i%2Dm-alive%2D%26method=full%26objectid=17987477%26siteid=50002-name_page.html




These are stories if links ok?

Astaroth

Link are ok as you are not doing them for personal gain/ promote your own site (at least thats what I believe the forum rules are)

I think the report highlights the very problem at the bottom where it states :

A county council spokesman said the authority would work with Bromsgrove District Council's trees officer to find a convenient time to close the road so a thorough investigation could take place

It would certainly appear that the road has to be closed for a proper inspection to be done... on top of that you would have to look at the frequency of how often trees would need to be inspected - probably every 3-6 months for disease plus after every large storm. Times that number by the number of trees the council owns and you would have a massive cost both in terms of man power to do all the inspections and disruption to the general public for all the roads that have to be closed to allow an inspection to occur.

It would therefore most likely be argued that it is reasonable that the council doesnt routinely inspect all trees, ie you couldnt prove that they should have known about it which puts it down to you to prove that they did know about it - ie someone (member of the public or otherwise) had reported issues with the trees to the council - next to impossible to do unless it was high profile/ in the papers or if one of the neighbours in the area was willing to admit they did (can prove it) and you did door to door to find out.

I think this is one of those things that you have to say that it could have been much much worse and at least you only had minor injuries, your car was insured and you have a story to tell the grandkids

Seesaw_2

we think if the tree has a "tree preservation order" on it then it must be maintained ... hope this helps - but thank goodness you are OK !

mustrum_ridcully

Even if the tree did have a preservation order you'd have to prove it wasn't being maintained - sorry. If the owner says he checked it a few months ago and it was fine then he'll probably be ok - it'd be argued that it is perfectly reasonable to only check the trees ever few months or maybe even once a year.

The test is - would the man on the No. 57 omnibus consider it reasonable for a landowner with maybe 100's of trees to check them more than once a year or to do thorough inspections of each the trees if they looked healthy?

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

His insurance company E-Sure have said the accident was an act of God and have written off the car.

Sue God. Billy Connolly did.

gardnt1

Perhaps I'll get to do some adverts for esure! Gotta be better than they got now

Thanks to all for comments......after all said, still good to be here breathing and thats the main thing!
thanks,

gardnt1