Court summons for car accident?

test45

I'm not sure whether this is the right place for this but I've just arrived home to find a weighty court document.

A while back (on the 22nd October 2009) I had a small collision with a car as I was entering my street. There were scratches on both cars (and looked a little worse on theirs as theirs is light blue and mine is a silver car).

We swapped insurance details at the time and I declined an offer to pay a fee (they suggested a few hundred) to cover the repaint / touch up of their car, opting instead to leave it to the insurance company to decide who was at fault. I rang my insurance company and reported the collision and left it at that. To my knowledge there was no claim by the other person who was involved.

I took some rough pictures at the time (which I still have today). My car also contains the impact marks from the original accident (I haven't had it fixed in anyway) which take the form of a black scratch on the left hand side of the front bumper (I hit their car just where the back wheel arch starts).

The claim looks to be for £5,000 mostly relating to personal injury (neck and lower back injuries and physiological injuries - though these are described as moderate and mild respectively).

The turn in to my street is narrow and sharp. I was turning into the street (as I have done many times in the past). Their car was arriving at the junction as I was turning in. As they were arriving at the junction at the time I had no awareness of their car as I turned in. I also felt their car was occupying more of the road than it should do (it was over the white lines onto my side of the road) so it would have been difficult to avoid any collision.

At this stage I figured I'd look for advice if anyone is able to give some. The documents themselves don't make it clear what they are (am I being sued, or is this something like a small claims court proceeding?).

From the cover letter it suggest the allocation questionnaire needs to be complete within 7 days.

Am I just supposed to complete the two forms at the end of the details about the claim. Am I supposed to be contacting some form of legal representation at this stage (and am I just refuting the claim by completing the forms or is that filing a counter claim?

Also will I have to appear in court and will this act of legal proceedings go on any civil record (I guess for things like applying for a house mortgage in future I'd be most concerned about)?

How concerned should I be about this (is it still against of their word against mine or do they have clout since they initiated legal proceedings and have gotten feedback from a medical practitioner about the symptoms they have suffered)?

Quentin

No don't fill in any forms.

You need to pass these documents on to your insurer to deal with (unanswered).

No need to be concerned at all about this, (it is a well known tactic used to concentrate minds, and it's unlikely it will end up as a hearing - even if it does and you lose, your insurer will be paying out the money awarded).

Mustard_Dave

Correct. Simply pass everything to your insurers. Do not reply to anything yourself and make sure the insurance company acknowledges receipt of everything (keep copies for your own records if you can.

Do not lose any sleep about this. The fact they are claiming injury has nothing to do with liability. Don't worry about credit ratings etc. - it will not go against you.

test45

[FONT=&quot]Thanks for the quick replies. The documents come from our cities court rather than a third party if that makes any difference.

Do I ring the insurer to raise this as an issue with them first before beginning to post anything?

The documents do have deadlines on them (7 days is the main one). The suggestion appears to be that there will be a no counter claim note tagged to this case if they have not received these forms.[/FONT]

Happychappy

Is this a small claims court file? Contact your insurers post haste and give them all the details, I would take advice from your insurers before completing any form.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

that is the insurers you were with at the time of the accident if you have changed insurers by now.

you contact them and ask them asap (to put your mind at rest) what this entails, do not fill it in, remind your insurers of the accident with a seperate letter speeds positions they may want to dispute level of injury.

Flyboy152

Isn't there a time limit for these sorts of claims?

Kilty_2

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Isn't there a time limit for these sorts of claims?

3 year

OP - I agree with what's been said - send it to your insurer and let them deal with it.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: @ personal injury that isn't though

NeverAgain_2

test 45,

Well done for doing the right thing and informing your insurer at the time, many people wouldn't have bothered, but this case shows why you should.

It appears the other party is making a compensation claim, as so many do these days.

Typically, the claim is bogus.

I wonder how many people they are now saying were in the car?

But that's a side issue for now.

As others have said, the claim is for your insurers to deal with, so pass the documents on to them.

At the same time, you could remind your insurers of your impression of the severity of the accident, and the number of people who were in the other car.

Cutting down on false and inflated claims helps reduce the premiums for all of us.

Flyboy152

NeverAgain wrote: »

test 45,

Well done for doing the right thing and informing your insurer at the time, many people wouldn't have bothered, but this case shows why you should.

It appears the other party is making a compensation claim, as so many do these days.

Typically, the claim is bogus.

I wonder how many people they are now saying were in the car?

But that's a side issue for now.

As others have said, the claim is for your insurers to deal with, so pass the documents on to them.

At the same time, you could remind your insurers of your impression of the severity of the accident, and the number of people who were in the other car.

Cutting down on false and inflated claims helps reduce the premiums for all of us.

One of the important factors is going to be the lack of claim for vehicle damage, from either party.

If you have changed insurers, it will be the insurers you had at the time of the accident.

sequence

Aren't you supposed to look into a road before you turn into it ? ....