Motoring Small Claims Court - Advice

feralspecies

unholyangel wrote: »

No one can predict how a court will go. They'll listen to each version, decide what the facts of the case are and then apportion liability.

If your insurer is fighting it then they at least think they have a reasonable prospect of success. Particularly if the losses in question aren't astronomical. The lower chance of success, the more disproportionate the costs involved of fighting it are.

Also, sorry but I have to ask....how exactly do you block a stationary object?

Thanks for your answer - the lorry was parked parallel to 7 or 8 cars that could exit their parking space in one direction, so if someone tried to leave, they wouldn’t have been able too.

feralspecies

tacpot12 wrote: »

Challenging a witness statement is valid in any UK court, but you may not persuade the judge to ignore the witness statement. It will come down to how the judge sees the case on the day. Keep your challenges to what can be proven objectively.

You say that the witness 'suggested' that he was sitting in McDonalds. If all the rebuttal on this one point and he says in court (if he attends) that actually he was sat somewhere else and could see the things he said he saw, are there other points on which you can rebut enough of the witness statement to make the difference? Hopefully the witness will not attend and the judge will see that the statement is false.

If you have evidence of that the original lorry driver and the witness have conspired against your wife, you might be more successful in asking the judge to order that the lorry driver pays all your costs.

I would advise you not to cast any aspersions on the witness, e.g. don't mention in court that he is a lorry driver.

Many thanks - the witness actually drew a map with the exact location he was sitting. When I went down to take pictures from inside McDonald’s, I made it fair by sitting in several locations, including where he stated he sat, to disprove he couldn’t see what he suggested.

The 3rd party then sent counter photos to prove he could see the incident, but these photos were using Google street view, which were obviously outside McDonald’s, at a different time of day, and higher up (as Google cars have their cameras on top of the car). The McDonald’s window faces parked cars, so when you’re sat down, all you can see is the parking car at eye level, the incident was two roads over with more parked cars. He also stated he’d watched my wife drive all the way round the car park, from the moment she left McDonald’s, got in the car, drive round the one way system, and then the incident. Just seemed odd he would be staring at my wife for 4 - 5 minutes, whilst eating lunch with his own wife and kids.

I feel if the witness was telling the truth, he’d just do what I did and sat in McDonald’s and took his own photos. He lives in the same town as the accident.

feralspecies

AdrianC wrote: »

Then the case management is in their hands, not yours.

Going back to your original question - yes, if a witness statement is demonstrably false, then of course it's legitimate to show as much.

Are you sure it's small claim, though?

Not sure if it’s small claims court, I’m assuming it is as it’s only to determine liability and loss of earnings

Mercdriver

It will be County Court. Strictly small claims is part of County Court but on a different track. Legal fees would likely be too high on this for small claims track.