insurance from a robbery

pinkshoes

I'd send the auction house a "Letter Before Action" giving them 14 days to pay you the reserve value of <£X>, otherwise you will have no option but to take them to court, as you have been more than generous giving them 9 months to pay, and do not wish to wait any longer.

I also agree with timbo that you shouldn't pay any commission charge, as they haven't done any work to earn it! They would have to claim that from the insurer for loss of earnings due to the theft. It's not up to you to pay this.

pitkin2020

Agree with the above, don't deduct any commission if anything you should be adding onto the reserve price as a reserve price is normally just under or equal to the true value. Retail your items are worth far more than auction prices!! You can get a free half hour with a solicitor to see what they recommend if your unsure.

sscrabble

Over a year on - the auction have finally been paid out by the insurers after they went thru the ombudsman - but !!!

The owner is saying he will give me £1000 and that is it - he lost out on £10000 in cash he had to pay out to other sellers because that was stolen from his safe and not covered - therefore he has to 'apportion' the payout - (also says my allocated share should be £328 therefore he is being generous!). He says (in an email) that my items were not covered by insurance and the payout is for other peoples items so he does not actually have to give me anything - I suspect he was actually paid out in full for my items - as far as I am aware there were no substantial items stolen except my stuff and the cash.

I would guess my only chance of getting more is to go through the small claims court. If he was paid out in full the £4000+ for my items would he have a legal obligation to pay that out to me or can he just keep it although it was for my items ? Can he be made to disclose what the payout was . Do I have rights or do I just take the £1000 and lick my wounds ?

InsideInsurance

The insurance is totally irrelevant to you, as has been pointed out by others earlier.

As there is commissions involved presumably you signed a contract with them? What does it state in terms of their liability whilst holding the items?

sscrabble

There are no terms or conditions or any of the paperwork they have given me , (but there is a box for deductions for insurance on the invoice I got for items sold). Insurance or any need for it was never mentioned to me.

(I suppose what I am asking is - if the insurance paid out to them £4000 for my items , do they have a legal obligation to pass that money on to me , or can they keep it?)

wealdroam

Sscrabble, did you ever send the letter before action... as advised by Pinkshoes in July last year?

If so, what was their reaction?

If not, what exactly have you done to try and recover your money?

sscrabble wrote: »

I suppose what I am asking is - if the insurance paid out to them £4000 for my items , do they have a legal obligation to pass that money on to me , or can they keep it?

The direct answer to that question is... no, they can keep it.
But they still owe you your money.

With respect, that's not the question you should be asking.

You should be asking them for your money... full stop.

Where they get that money from, beit from their insurers or otherwise, should be of no concern to you.

But you know that already.
You were told that in June last year.

sscrabble

I was trying to be reasonable - the guy was keeping in touch with me as to the problems with the insurers - I tried contacting his insurers and the ombudsman directly but they of course would tell me nothing. I know the guy suffered through the robbery and ceased trading although he did not go insolvent. I did not want to pursue him personally as I have no idea what his assets are. I know I could still 'sue' him for the money , but if he does not have it I will be flogging a dead horse.

If he has a legal obligation to pass on any money he recieves from the auctioneers for my items to me I would just put in aclaim thru small claims court - but if he can pay off his other creditors with that money legally I do not see the point of chasing him when I do not know where he lives or what his assets are , though I am guessing they will not be great.

paddyrg

It was him who was under-insured, so his fault I'd say. So it is him you sue. With a court judgement you may be able to apply for a lein on some of his other assets (eg his house?), or ask bailiffs to secure property to the value owed, and irony of ironies, auction it off to make back what is owed.

pendulum

I would first try and get my hands on the £1,000 he is offering, without signing anything to say it is a final settlement, myself. Then you can sue him for the remaining £3,000.

As you are aware, you can sue some people and win and all it ends up doing is costing you more money. If they are clever enough, you'll have absolutely no way of getting any money back.

If he has stopped trading as you say, and it's a Ltd company, you are relying on goodwill to a large extent. Get your hands on the £1k first of all.

sscrabble

he has put a rider in the email offering the £1000 saying 'in full and final settlement' so I am snookered - I beginning to think taking the £1k is the only sensible action - just rankles that he has probably been paid out £4000 + for my items , and could be just keeping it to offset his own losses !! Despite the fact that he has been paid out by the insurance once the money has gone I could end up getting a judgement that awards me a few pounds a week if he can show no assets