Will the non existence of the witness statement affect my chances of winning my case?

hunterz1

Hi guys, I was involved in a car accident on a roundabout where a driving instructor hit my nearside passenger side on the roundabout.

I was in the middle lane and she was in the left lane, I was in the middle lane where I was intending to take the 2nd exit which has two exit lanes.

As I was exiting, the driving instructor in the left lane, decided pull a stupid stunt by trying to overtake me, which resulted in her hitting my passenger side door.

She is denying liability.

I had an independent witness who witnessed it all and said they would give a statement if need be.

My solicitors over the last couple of months have been exchanging letters with him, for which he has responded to.

However, they can't get in touch with him now, and they sent a letter to him this month where the courts are demanding confirmation of events or something like that and the solicitors need it by 1st jan.

If he doesn't respond and come court time, will affect my chances of winning the case, eventhough he has provided many statements of what happened over the past year?

thanks

Retrogamer

If the witness doesn't respond, then it'll likely be ruled 50:50 liability.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Retrogamer wrote: »

If the witness doesn't respond, then it'll likely be ruled 50:50 liability.

not in somecase's when you sign a whitness statement you sign it knowing your going to be called to court if needed especially when a judge wants there to clarify certain arguments and is key to the case. if this witness fails to attend the offered date the judge will more than likely adjourn the case and order the witness to come to court, failure to do so will incur him a fine for contempt of court, if he fails again to attend court he can picked up by police on a failure to appear warrant and be held in the cells and fined for it.


The same happened in a case my SIL had with the council, her witness was the lady in the flat opposite the broken stair well step my SIL went tumbling down the stairs and broke her ankle, depite several phone calls by the witness to the council to come and fix it they didn't (but 3 weeks after the claim went in they did) 2 years passed and the star witness had moved from the area entirely, the solicitor had her new address and passed it onto the courts, they wrote to her with a court date and she failed to attend, so the judge adjourned to a later date because she was an integral part to the claim, she also received the £50,00 travel costs cheque and cashed it, she then failed to attend the second one, judged fined her £150.00 for failing to appear contempt of court order, the case was again adjourned to a later date, judge made a new order to appear, she failed yet again to appear judge issued another fine £150.00 the third time she appeared but was funny about things and only confirmed her named etc and said no comment on the questions but because she attended they went off her statement anyway (which the can do as its a legal binding document), either way she had a arrest warrant on her for failure to pay the fines and spent 24 hours in a cell.


its not as clear cut as you want to think, if no one goes to court it get judged 50 50 on the merits of the case, the solicitors of the OP will be wanting the witness to go to court, and this is the likely course of action that will be taken if the judge deems that the witness must come before the courts to represent their statement.


the trick is if you don't want to be a witness don't sign a witness statement from the insurers, because if you do you can be in a spot of bother with the courts if you fail to attend a court date.

colino

I hope no one of any standing in the court alluded to, "they went off her statement anyway (which the can do as its a legal binding document)" as it is entirely misleading.
It was only a statement from a witness (with ice cold feet) and with the adversarial nature of our court system, no matter what any witness, or police for that matter, have said in the past and recorded, is merely there to be challenged.
Otherwise we could have all challenged cases conducted by email.
Well done the court for holding reluctant witnesses in contempt, it costs a fortune every court day.

Retrogamer

Didn't know that.

If i ever felt like i wanted to be a witness for anyone, that was a good story to talk me out of it.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

colino wrote: »

I hope no one of any standing in the court alluded to, "they went off her statement anyway (which the can do as its a legal binding document)" as it is entirely misleading.
It was only a statement from a witness (with ice cold feet) and with the adversarial nature of our court system, no matter what any witness, or police for that matter, have said in the past and recorded, is merely there to be challenged.
Otherwise we could have all challenged cases conducted by email.
Well done the court for holding reluctant witnesses in contempt, it costs a fortune every court day.

it was weird at the time as I didn't know you could be fined for not turning up, it frustrated me as my wife was a witness aswell (all three were at a Halloween party of the lady who wouldn't attend) and every time it got adjourned it meant A drive of 30 miles there and back for nothing in the end, the woman thought she could honestly take £50.00 travel expenses from the court no sorry solicitor and cash it and not attend and then think the fines she got in the post were junk mail too.


the judge gave her a right bolloxing when she went in..


she confirmed her address etc and when her statement was read and was asked do you understand this witness statement to be your statement and tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth she replied I understand yes, which of course in legal terms is I STAND UNDER this statement the solicitor questioned her about that day and she said its was a long time ago I cant recall it went back to her statement to refresh her memory and she replied vague answers, then the defense got to her and she just clammed right up.

DUTR

hunterz1 wrote: »

Hi guys, I was involved in a car accident on a roundabout where a driving instructor hit my nearside passenger side on the roundabout.

I was in the middle lane and she was in the left lane, I was in the middle lane where I was intending to take the 2nd exit which has two exit lanes.

As I was exiting, the driving instructor in the left lane, decided pull a stupid stunt by trying to overtake me, which resulted in her hitting my passenger side door.

She is denying liability.

I had an independent witness who witnessed it all and said they would give a statement if need be.

My solicitors over the last couple of months have been exchanging letters with him, for which he has responded to.

However, they can't get in touch with him now, and they sent a letter to him this month where the courts are demanding confirmation of events or something like that and the solicitors need it by 1st jan.

If he doesn't respond and come court time, will affect my chances of winning the case, eventhough he has provided many statements of what happened over the past year?

thanks

Was this on the 5 ways island in Birmingham by any chance?

hunterz1

DUTR wrote: »

Was this on the 5 ways island in Birmingham by any chance?

No it wasn't. I live bradford.

Anyway solictors have informed me, they have now recieved witness statement, which is good news.

Looks like things are moving on a bit, do people think that now the witness has confirmed things, third party will just admit liability? Or insurers will tell them not worth it, we will accept liability.

Surely they can't see themselves winning this, also doesn't it cost a lot to go to court for the insurers?

spacey2012

It is a recent "trend" to try and exit roundabouts from the right hand lane.
You move to the left hand lane to exit a roundabout unless it has a correct blue sign stating "use both lanes"
This is because traffic in the nearside lane can proceed straight on or take the first exit.
If they are going straight on, you are going to have a crash.
If you are exiting roundabouts from the right hand lane, I am surprised this is the first bump you have had.

hunterz1

spacey2012 wrote: »

It is a recent "trend" to try and exit roundabouts from the right hand lane.
You move to the left hand lane to exit a roundabout unless it has a correct blue sign stating "use both lanes"
This is because traffic in the nearside lane can proceed straight on or take the first exit.
If they are going straight on, you are going to have a crash.
If you are exiting roundabouts from the right hand lane, I am surprised this is the first bump you have had.

My exit has two exit lanes so i did nothing wrong. it's not the first exit but the 2nd exit which had two lanes. In the left lane it is either first or 2nd exit and nothing beyond. Middle lane then they could of gone beyond the exit poiint

spacey2012

It matters not if your exit has 30 lanes, you exit roundabouts from the left hand lane unless it has a sign instructing you otherwise.

This is because as I pointed out a vehicle in the nearside lane has in most cases the option of turning left or taking the second exit .
If they are taking the second exit, they are going to drive in to the passenger door of the driver who thinks they can exit the roundabout from the outside lane.

Some will even drive all the way round in the first lane, if you are in the correct lane to exit the roundabout, it is never a problem.
A blue sign shows two arrows and can say "Use Both lanes" where it is a double exit, but these are generally where you are on a continuation of a dual carriageway.
rather than blaming the "driving instructor" you might be better calling him up and asking for some refresher training.

You wont agree, we can see that with "how can they possible contest it"
But here is some practical advice, move in to the left hand lane immediately before your exit unless it is signed otherwise, or you are going to need a lot of new passenger doors.