Might have to go Bankrupt because of a claim bought against me :(

debt_doctor

Hi,
What a bizzare case!

What do you think is the main reason why you have been allowed to become 2nd defendant? Is it because you made a declaration of the weight of the chairs and they were heavier? Did you make that declaration in writing?
What did the 'other sides' solictitor say that convinced the DJ of your potential liability?
Who was present during this hire? Anyone who may be able to substantiate that nothing happened during the hire needs to put in a statement and attend the hearing. At the very least they should provide a statutory declaration.

As already said, the other side (and yourself) have duty of disclosure, to provide each other of all of the documents you will both rely on in court, and that would pressumably be the contract.

So, what does the contract say? If not provided then you should use that as they have been negligent in running their business, as all documents have to be kept for at least 6 years.

What was the relationship between the driver and the company you used? Was he an employee of theirs? If he was, then the duty of care I would say lays heavily (but not exclusively) with them, and he should have been covered by Employers liability insurance - did they have that - its a legal requirement. If not, then that shows further bad practice.
Or was this driver self employed, which would make things far more 'cloudy'.

DD

debt_doctor

What makes this so strange is that you are at odds (to some extent) with both the claimant and your co defendant.

I wonder if you should apply to have the judgement that made you co defendant, set aside? The only grounds you (may) have is that the order should not have been made. This will cost you £80, unless you are exempt or pay reduced court fees.
You would need good reason and new information to gain the chance of a set aside hearing. So, back to an earlier point, what was said (and was it by the drivers solicitor or the hire company's solicitor) that convinced the DJ that you should be co defendant?

DD

shan7-8-6

debt_doctor wrote: »

Hi,
What a bizzare case!

What do you think is the main reason why you have been allowed to become 2nd defendant? Is it because you made a declaration of the weight of the chairs and they were heavier? Did you make that declaration in writing?
What did the 'other sides' solictitor say that convinced the DJ of your potential liability?
Who was present during this hire? Anyone who may be able to substantiate that nothing happened during the hire needs to put in a statement and attend the hearing. At the very least they should provide a statutory declaration.

As already said, the other side (and yourself) have duty of disclosure, to provide each other of all of the documents you will both rely on in court, and that would pressumably be the contract.

So, what does the contract say? If not provided then you should use that as they have been negligent in running their business, as all documents have to be kept for at least 6 years.

What was the relationship between the driver and the company you used? Was he an employee of theirs? If he was, then the duty of care I would say lays heavily (but not exclusively) with them, and he should have been covered by Employers liability insurance - did they have that - its a legal requirement. If not, then that shows further bad practice.
Or was this driver self employed, which would make things far more 'cloudy'.

DD

Hi,
I did sign a an earlier statement but it made no mention of the weight, but the witness statment which I refused to sign did mention the chairs could of been heavier, but I refused to sign that.

Basically the arguments for them (the claimant) to add me have been scanned (without names etc):





Myself and my friend were the only people present throughout the whole 2 days and he said he would be happy to give me a witness statement.

The relationship between the driver and the van company were that they were his full time employer, I just used there services, the employers liability insurance did not cover the driver off the premises (they supposedly had missed that when they took out insurance).

Also I spoke to my dads home insurance and they said it would be very likely that I would be covered for this situation, said they would be getting back to me on monday! Said it was because I was not his employer....fingers crossed!

Thanks for taking the time to look at my situation! Really appreciate and help you could give me.

shan7-8-6

Also thought I'd scan the parts they added called "Particulars of Negligence"

Part 1 :



Part 2:

Mouse1812

OK, so they are claiming you had a duty of care (we can come back to that later) and that you breached it (we can also come back to that later). What injury or harm are they claiming? and what evidence do they have to support that?

PippaGirl_2

Those would be the questions I would be asking too given that the job was 2009 and it is now 2012. Has the driver worked since, what treatment has he had, what dates are his medical letters/treatment?

shan7-8-6

Mouse1812 wrote: »

OK, so they are claiming you had a duty of care (we can come back to that later) and that you breached it (we can also come back to that later). What injury or harm are they claiming? and what evidence do they have to support that?

He is saying he got a hernia on the 18th August (first day of the job) and only reported that he injured his groin on the 20th in writing to his employer. The first report he got from the doctor about the hernia was the 14/10/2009, I don't know about you but I have 2 friends who have had hernia's (one got it randomly, another while he was constipated) and upon researching it, they say it happens to 27% of men during there lifetime. Worst part is that he never once mentioned that he hurt himself, and he was never alone when we were moving the pallets (since he was pretty old, and myself and my friend regulars at the gym and weigh 14-15 stone each so we didn't expect him to do any of the manual moving, just manoeuvring the pallet truck within the truck (which was supplied to us by the truck company).

shan7-8-6

Also he was still working after he had done our job until the date specified where he got the doctors note (on the 14/10/09), there is one other injury he reported where he hit an allen key on his head while fixing brakes on the 24/09/09. And if he had a hernia im sure he wouldn't be messing about in awkward positions changing brakes! It annoys me the more I read the documents. My friends that got hernias went to the doctors straight away because the lump you get is VERY noticeable.

shan7-8-6

And oh, one more last thing, it was only on the 1st of October that the incident was first reported to a doctor, he went to the A & E and complained of sharp pains in his groin.

Mouse1812

Thanks for the above, some very useful stuff to work with, especially the scanned documents. This is clearly a case of them chasing insurance monies, which in my book stinks.

Good to see you are reading stuff, because that is key, read everything three times over and then again. I'll try and help with some legal pointers, I have a few suggestions to make. I did study negligence and pass a few exams on the subject, so might be able to point you in the right direction.

I need to pop out now. Hopefully I will get a chance to post again before tomorrow.