Going to court

Alison_B

Bit of background as previously posted on here.

In November 2010 my son was travelling home from work. It was stop start traffic and the car in front stopped and my son braked too but he ended up scraping the bumper of the car in front. They exchanged details and he informed his insurance company. The other party got a quote to repair their car and it came back as £60 to respray the scrape and £151 was for labour costs. My son also received 2 personal injury claims from the driver of the car and his passenger for whiplash, time off work etc. This was all passed onto his insurance company. My sons insurance company sent out someone to inspect both cars and also sent someone out to take a statement. This person agreed that what the other parties were claiming for was very excessive for the impact on the car.

My son has been chasing this since it happened to see if it has been resolved and they said not yet. Yesterday he has received papers saying that it is going to court. What happens in situations like this - never been to court before.

Also, whilst scanning the documents as the insurance company asked us to email the documents to them, it says something on the back that if he does lose the case (which is very probable as most cases go in favour of the car in front) it says he will have the result recorded against him, so I presume that will mean he has a CCJ? It also says that it wil affect his credit rating and will make things difficult for him getting credit in the futre. Is this right?

On the documents that we have been sent, it sounds as though this person is a serial injury person or is incredibly unlucky. His history states that he has been involved in at least 6 accidents where he has been hit from behind.

McKneff

Was it an established garage who gave the quote for the car to be repaired, you cant believe how expensive this sort of this is a garages these day, cost me well over £500 to have a new boot for my little KA over 7 years agao.

I presume that the court is for the personal injury claim, am i correct.

Your sons insurance company should be dealing with all this. When/if he loses in court, his insurance company has to foot the bill, not your son, thats why he has been paying them so forget the CCJ.

Alison_B

So the bit about him having it against his record and it could cause him trouble getting credit in future, does not apply to him?

Quentin

Alison_B wrote: »

Also, whilst scanning the documents as the insurance company asked us to email the documents to them, it says something on the back that if he does lose the case (which is very probable as most cases go in favour of the car in front) it says he will have the result recorded against him, so I presume that will mean he has a CCJ? It also says that it wil affect his credit rating and will make things difficult for him getting credit in the futre. Is this right?

The document you are referring to (with the mention of CCJ/credit rating) sounds like a standard court claim document (ie not from the insurer).

As posted above your son need not worry about either ending up with a ccj or getting his credit rating marked.

This is still a long way (months) from actually getting to a court hearing, though if it does come to that, then the insurer will be providing legal representation, though your son will be needed to attend. (County court, informal, nothing to worry about)

And should he lose the case, again nothing to worry about as the insurer will be paying everything!

So apart from passing on all correspondence to his insurer unanswered (and making sure they have received it) he need do nothing.

ILW

Sounds like the insurance company are disputing the claim and they just need you son as a witness.

Quentin

ILW wrote: »

Sounds like the insurance company are disputing the claim and they just need you son as a witness.

No, that's not quite what is going on.

The two insurers have failed to agree on liability, or the size of the compensation to be paid.

The third party have now decided to "concentrate the mind" of the son's insurer by issuing the court claim.

All court cases are between the parties involved (ie the cases are driver a v driver b, not insurer a v insurer b).

Though as previously posted, if it ends up with a court case, the loser's insurer will be paying out all the costs, not the losing driver!

McKneff

Hope we've all reassured you and your son with the advice above

Regards
Annie

Alison_B

Thanks for that. Has put our minds at rest. Thought it was a little bit unfair if he got a bad credit rating over it. Was also worried over having to attend court.

pelirocco

He shouldnt be affected personally by this . BUT we as a business were issued a CCJ in respect of an insurance claim because the useless solicitors appointed by our insurers couldnt get they act together . The other party issued a summons in our name to the solicitors , they failed to respond , and a CCJ was lodged against us .........We only found out because we have our own company listed on the credit checking agency we use and an alert was raised . We did get get the CCJ reversed but it took about 6 weeks and caused no end of problems . Apparently we were are not the first this has happened to . He should double check

Parking_Trouble

Under the Road Traffic Act the insurer has to pay for TP injury and property damage.

The OP has received the letter from the court so if they follow the process they will not get an unexpected CCJ.

Might be worth a trip to court to see the serial PI claimant explain why he is so unlucky.

pelirocco

Parking_Trouble wrote: »

Under the Road Traffic Act the insurer has to pay for TP injury and property damage.

The OP has received the letter from the court so if they follow the process they will not get an unexpected CCJ.

Might be worth a trip to court to see the serial PI claimant explain why he is so unlucky.

I agree the insurer is responsible , we followed the process , our insurers solicitor didnt !