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Disputing a personal injury claim
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Hi, I was just wondering if anyone could give me any advice! Hopefully I'm posting in the right forum!
Background: My partner was involved in a car accident in 2013 (4 years ago) where he was the driver, his ex partner was a passenger and the collision was with a wall so nobody else was involved. They were both taken to hospital by the police and she had a small lower back injury which did not require treatment. He had no driving licence or car insurance at the time, and was taken to court over this. His ex partner supported him in court, and even stated that there was no injuries. Everything was settled in court and he was banned from driving and had to pay a large fine.
4 years down the line he has come home from working away to find a letter saying that he owes almost £32,000 to a company. He has made a phonecall, and found that his ex partner has made a claim against him in 2015/2016 for injuries and has received £28,500! The claim was paid out by the MIB since he had no insurance and has now been passed on to another company. Since they were unable to get in touch with my partner because he has moved address since the accident and works away a lot, they have had to pay her out. However now he has contacted them and they have frozen the case for 28 days in order for him to be able to have his say.
Now the problem he has is that he believes that she has made a false claim against him. After doing our research we have found a number of issues. The money she has been paid out seems to be the amount for permanent disability - however this lady has since had a baby, works, drives, goes on lots of nights out, goes to the gym - so how is this possible? The lady even stood in court and stated that she had no serious injuries. Secondly, the MIB website says that they will not accept a claim if the claimant (her) knows, or is thought to have known, that the driver has no insurance because this would be them getting in the car at their own risk - the lady was aware of this since they were in a relationship, she had been in his car numerous times, she knew he only had a provisional driving licence, and he says that he can't remember for definite but thinks his provisional licence was even delivered to her house etc.
My question is, therefore, how can he dispute this claim when the lady has already been paid? Does he have any other grounds to stand on? What kind of solicitor should he be trying to get (personal injury/motor accident/civil)? And also what kind of evidence would be needed to prove the above, for example would it be enough to say that she knew he wasn't insured because they were in a relationship, or she had seen his provisional when being ID'd on a night out, or..?
Any advice would be much appreciated, because this is obviously an extremely large amount of money to owe and is very frustrating when we have seen her out partying not long ago etc!
Thank you!
Background: My partner was involved in a car accident in 2013 (4 years ago) where he was the driver, his ex partner was a passenger and the collision was with a wall so nobody else was involved. They were both taken to hospital by the police and she had a small lower back injury which did not require treatment. He had no driving licence or car insurance at the time, and was taken to court over this. His ex partner supported him in court, and even stated that there was no injuries. Everything was settled in court and he was banned from driving and had to pay a large fine.
4 years down the line he has come home from working away to find a letter saying that he owes almost £32,000 to a company. He has made a phonecall, and found that his ex partner has made a claim against him in 2015/2016 for injuries and has received £28,500! The claim was paid out by the MIB since he had no insurance and has now been passed on to another company. Since they were unable to get in touch with my partner because he has moved address since the accident and works away a lot, they have had to pay her out. However now he has contacted them and they have frozen the case for 28 days in order for him to be able to have his say.
Now the problem he has is that he believes that she has made a false claim against him. After doing our research we have found a number of issues. The money she has been paid out seems to be the amount for permanent disability - however this lady has since had a baby, works, drives, goes on lots of nights out, goes to the gym - so how is this possible? The lady even stood in court and stated that she had no serious injuries. Secondly, the MIB website says that they will not accept a claim if the claimant (her) knows, or is thought to have known, that the driver has no insurance because this would be them getting in the car at their own risk - the lady was aware of this since they were in a relationship, she had been in his car numerous times, she knew he only had a provisional driving licence, and he says that he can't remember for definite but thinks his provisional licence was even delivered to her house etc.
My question is, therefore, how can he dispute this claim when the lady has already been paid? Does he have any other grounds to stand on? What kind of solicitor should he be trying to get (personal injury/motor accident/civil)? And also what kind of evidence would be needed to prove the above, for example would it be enough to say that she knew he wasn't insured because they were in a relationship, or she had seen his provisional when being ID'd on a night out, or..?
Any advice would be much appreciated, because this is obviously an extremely large amount of money to owe and is very frustrating when we have seen her out partying not long ago etc!
Thank you!
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Comments
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His only hope is to prove she had no injuries but surely she will have presented medical evidence.
As for her knowing he didn't have insurance how can he prove that?
Sounds like he's on a hiding to nothing.
His fault entirely as he drove without insurance.0 -
Warwick_Hunt wrote: »His only hope is to prove she had no injuries but surely she will have presented medical evidence.
As for her knowing he didn't have insurance how can he prove that?
Sounds like he's on a hiding to nothing.
His fault entirely as he drove without insurance.
Yes he understands that. That's what i'm asking, the clause says if "the claimant knew, or ought to have known, that the car was being driven with no insurance". What I'm asking is how can he prove that, is it enough that she "ought to have known" since they were in a relationship and lived together and she had seen his provisional licence, or what further proof could he use?0 -
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Warwick_Hunt wrote: »His only hope is to prove she had no injuries but surely she will have presented medical evidence.
Court records maybe? where she stated no injuries.
I appreciate that people can have problems that appear after but £28,000 worth you would expect to be evident from the start.
Yes they made a mistake but people do and yes they have to pay for any consequences of that mistake - but that does not mean they can get ripped off due to it.
See a solicitor to get advise, live off baked beans for a while if you need to, to pay for it.0 -
iammumtoone wrote: »Court records maybe? where she stated no injuries.
I appreciate that people can have problems that appear after but £28,000 worth you would expect to be evident from the start.
Yes they made a mistake but people do and yes they have to pay for any consequences of that mistake - but that does not mean they can get ripped off due to it.
See a solicitor to get advise, live off baked beans for a while if you need to, to pay for it.
The MIB wouldn't pay out without medical evidence of her injuries. Small lower back injury was probably worse than first thought.
I doubt she gave evidence in court unless he pleaded not guilty.0 -
Warwick_Hunt wrote: »The MIB wouldn't pay out without medical evidence of her injuries. Small lower back injury was probably worse than first thought.
I doubt she gave evidence in court unless he pleaded not guilty.
The court case was to decide how harshly he would be punished. He had his licence taken away and a hefty fine. He pled guilty. She stood in court to support him because if there were injuries or others wanted to press charges then obviously his punishment would have been even bigger. Why wouldn't she have otherwise?
Also we understand this but realise that she is probably exaggerating a lot to receive the amount she has, and the main point is that she knew he had no car insurance, and the MIB clause explicitly stated that they will not pay out if the person knew, or was thought to have known, that the driver had no insurance, and she was fully aware he had no insurance or licence. He just isn't sure how to prove it, thats the main thing.0 -
The court case was to decide how harshly he would be punished. He had his licence taken away and a hefty fine. He pled guilty. She stood in court to support him because if there were injuries or others wanted to press charges then obviously his punishment would have been even bigger. Why wouldn't she have otherwise?
Also we understand this but realise that she is probably exaggerating a lot to receive the amount she has, and the main point is that she knew he had no car insurance, and the MIB clause explicitly stated that they will not pay out if the person knew, or was thought to have known, that the driver had no insurance, and she was fully aware he had no insurance or licence. He just isn't sure how to prove it, thats the main thing.
But in the OP, you stated she had a lower back injury.0 -
Warwick_Hunt wrote: »But in the OP, you stated she had a lower back injury.
She had a small lower back injury which did not require treatment; what I am saying is that when she stood up in court she was explicitly asked whether she had any serious injuries and she said no. He is not disputing that she was injured, he is merely disputing the EXTENT of the injuries since the amount she has received is what somebody would receive for permanent disability, and she has since had children, works out in the gym, works, drives, and goes on big nights out.
The main dispute is to do with the knowledge of lack of insurance, and the main point of the original question is how to prove that she was aware he was uninsured and which type of solicitor he should be using.0 -
I work, drive, go out and I too was paid out by the MIB.
I saw an independent medical expert prior the them paying.
Unless he has an independent witness who can say he specifically told her he had no insurance, he's on a hiding to nothing.0 -
Warwick_Hunt wrote: »I work, drive, go out and I too was paid out by the MIB.
I saw an independent medical expert prior the them paying.
Unless he has an independent witness who can say he specifically told her he had no insurance, he's on a hiding to nothing.
But were you paid out £28,500?
Okay thanks for that, that's all the information I was looking for. I wasn't sure whether the "ought to have known" part would be relevant due to their relationship status and her having seen his provisional.0
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