alleged car accident appeal

Breadwinner

Is it possible to appeal a car accident claim after a decision has been made by the court, and on what grounds? Thanks

Keep_pedalling

You are going to have to provide a lot more details than that if you want any kind of an answer.

Breadwinner

Not sure what kind of details you want. But here's the gyst.

Car park. Allegation of reversing into a car from parked position. I produced evidence in court of engineer's report which shows no recent damage to my vehicle. Claimant had substantial new damage (which I believe he did that day somewhere else, and was scouting round the car park for a likely scapegoat when he found me with my car and damaged bumper). Claimant produced in court pictures he took of my car in parking bay which showed my old damage to bumper from years ago, and his CAD number from police given to him after I called the police when I caught him at it. He alleged he called the police.

My problem: In court, I was defended by barrister but my solicitor (not present) had not provided my evidence of CAD details from police (I called them not the claimant) so judge didn't believe I called them and called me a liar citing this as a reason for believing I'm unreliable witness. My solicitor told me previously that I couldn't use my passenger as an independent witness because was a relative, so I did not produce my witness (passenger at the time) or mention in my statement but mentioned in court, and so judge called me a liar on that too and said no solicitor would tell me I couldn't use a relative as an independent witness. I had an engineer's report assessment that revealed no recent damage to my car, only old damage, but judge disregarded my engineer's report as erroneous, because not signed and so apparently not acceptable in court as professional evidence (not my fault obviously) and decided she knew better even though she hadn't assessed my car and is not an engineer.

Solicitor obviously cocked up. The judge decided I was at fault.

I want to appeal.

Quentin

There is an appeal procedure for county court claims.


You need to do so fairly promptly after the judgement.


But speak to your solicitor on your chances.

Keep_pedalling

Quentin wrote: »

There is an appeal procedure for county court claims.


You need to do so fairly promptly after the judgement.


But speak to your solicitor on your chances.

Sounds like the OPs solicitor was somewhat incompetent, so I would be looking for an alternative one. Assuming this was a small claims court running up the cost of a barrister is way over the top.

Maybe you best coarse of action would be to pursue your solicitor as they seem to be the one who failed to advise you correctly and lost the evidence that was vital to your case.

Don't take the judge's comments personally, their decision is based on the evidence presented on the day and the balance of probability on who is telling the truth. If you don't come up with the evidence on the day then the probability will swing away from you. I would also expect any report from a independent expert to be signed.

magpiecottage

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Maybe you best coarse of action would be to pursue your solicitor as they seem to be the one who failed to advise you correctly and lost the evidence that was vital to your case.

The OP can of course complain to the solicitor and, if the outcome is not satisfactory, to the Legal Ombudsman who can make an award - I believe up to £30,000 against the solicitor.

The Legal Ombudsman is free to consumers but the solicitor must first be given a chance to resolve the issue themselves.

Auntie-Dolly

I'm confused. How did it end up in court? Would your insurance company not have sorted this for you?

Breadwinner

I had the same question initially and kept complaining that it shouldn't be going as far as court with an engineer's report that absolved me of responsiblity. Little did I know the report's credibility would be called into question by the judge. Claimant's solicitor knew more than mine apparently.

In hindsight I should have checked the accreditation of the report and noticed it was not signed, but never having seen one before, I was clueless. But that was my solicitor's job, at any rate.

OnanTheBarbarian

No real ground for appeal here. The judge was entitled to find on the facts presented by way of admissible evidence seen and heard on the day. To have a right of appeal either there has to be misconduct by the judge or that they were wring in law.

Sounds like neither would apply to your situation.

This is one to run by the formal complaints procedure with your lawyers and then off to the legal ombudsman if necessary.

Breadwinner

So my relative (with me at the time of the alleged accident) could have been called as a witness?

FutureGirl

They could have been but don't think their statement would have been given much weight as they aren't independent, and will clearly be bias.