Accident eighteen months ago

redmalc

Well I will try to be brief.My daughter in law was involved in a motorway accident,hit from behind by a car which was then hit by a lorry.
The problem is we were payed out by the Insurance company over, a year ago but my son has started to receive letters from the insurers for the car that hit her asking for information on the accident,given the drivers attitude at the time of the accident we have advised we do not want to get involved.
In the back of the car was my twelve month Granddaughter, after the accident the car driver who hit them sat in his car and would not assist in getting her out of the car,if it had not been for the action of the lorry driver I would not like to think what the outcome may have been.
A month ago a private investigator turned up at their house asking questions,we told him we would not get involved because he was acting on behalf of the car driver and after I advised him of his attitude he understood why we would not assist.
On arriving home tonight we now have a letter from Solicitors acting on behalf of the car driver advising we will be required to attend court 150 miles away next January as a witness,the question is do we have to attend the court because I think they are bullying us into attending surely we would be notified by the court if required to attend not their solocitors

ChumLee

You don't have to go until a witness summons arrives.

tomba_2

As far as the accident is concerned you can relax....the driver who hit your daughter-in-law from behind is, by law, to blame. Unfortunately for the lorry driver he is also "at fault".
It sounds like the middle driver is after some whiplash compensation or a similar compensation claim.....must be a lot he's after for the interest of a private investigator? He's certainly up to something, probably a bogus or exaggerated claim!
If the Court sends you a summons then you WILL need to attend (you can claim expenses)...but NOT if the "defence" solicitor requests it!

arcon5

Sounds like the dispute is between the lorry and the guy rear ending you.

Personally i'd be very sceptical about attending court based on a letter from a solicitor. Write back declining their invitation, advising them if your attendance is mandatory you expect such notice from her majestys court.

redmalc

Tomba many thanks,as I thought your comments confirm the last paragraph of the solicitors letter which clearly states your expenses will be set by the judge at the time of the hearing.
The car driver is the MD of a large well known company who thought he could walk all over the young girl and bully people

arcon5

My guess would be his insurers have been told you stopped, he stopped then the lorry hit him pushing him in to you.

In reality I suspect motorway traffic come to a halt, he wasn't paying attention, nor was the lorry driver

ChumLee

redmalc wrote: »

Tomba many thanks,as I thought your comments confirm the last paragraph of the solicitors letter which clearly states your expenses will be set by the judge at the time of the hearing.
The car driver is the MD of a large well known company who thought he could walk all over the young girl and bully people

Well he's about to come unstuck. Things are getting desperate for him if he needs to summons his witnesses.

redmalc

The police attended,I am of the opinion he is claiming the lorry driver hit him first which pushed him onto our car.
We have told the police we only felt one bump when he hit us,why was we paid out when all this is still going on,we had no idea this was going on behind the scenes we got paid out six months after the crash

ChumLee

redmalc wrote: »

The police attended,I am of the opinion he is claiming the lorry driver hit him first which pushed him onto our car.
We have told the police we only felt one bump when he hit us,why was we paid out when all this is still going on,we had no idea this was going on behind the scenes we got paid out six months after the crash

He's got six years to bring a damage claim and three for and injury.

redmalc

He is not bringing any claims against us he is bringing charges against the insurance company acting on behalf of the lorry driver for damages

facade

redmalc wrote: »

The police attended,I am of the opinion he is claiming the lorry driver hit him first which pushed him onto our car.
We have told the police we only felt one bump when he hit us

Which would be consistent with the lorry hitting him before there was any contact with you, if he hit you, then the lorry hit him whilst he was already in contact with you there would have been 2 impacts.

Has it occured to you that he may actually be right?
You seem biased against him because he didn't get out to help you, but he could have been in shock- possible when he has just had a 40 tonner run into the back of him and push him helplessly into another car.