Scared and worried - received County Court Money Claim - PLEASE HELP!

Car_54

Coupon-mad said:

You cannot not respond to a county court claim form.  The OP must acknowledge it to buy more time  (then defend within 28 days plus 5) or he/she will get a CCJ.

Certainly ask the insurer what they want you do do but DO NOT fail to follow your deadlines to acknowledge and then defend.

No, the OP is almost certainly obliged to pass the court correspondence - unanswered and ASAP -  to his iinsurers. They will defend it.

onlyfoolsandparking

Not sure about this one, could easily go wrong IF OP doesn't act speedily. Will the insurance company assist in removing a CCJ the OP could end up with, doubt it. What I can say is if it were me in this unfortunate position I wouldn't take the chance of ending up with a CCJ because the insurance company took too long in dealing with it or even advised me they will take care of it but then don't which appears that 'might' be the case by the OP's thoughts on their previous insurers dealings, reviews etc.

Another thing that would make me spring into action is it's the OP that's being sued at this stage NOT the insurance company, surely common sense would dictate that acknowledging the claim is the only route that can be gone down.

I would be onto the legal department of the insurance company demanding their advice on how to deal with this Court claim, I'm sure once they've been informed they will be aware the clock is ticking on this matter but it wouldn't surprise me if OP was advised to acknowledge and then the insurance company assists/deals with the defence.

Let's hope we get an update from the OP, be interested to know which route was the correct one and this may help others in the future too.   

Gerard55

Aretnap said:

Gerard55 said:

neilmcl said:

Speak to your insurer and forward all correspondence. 

@neilmcl even though this car accident occurred more than 3 years ago? 

I am very worried 

Yes, 3 years is quite a long time for these things to get settled, but not impossibly long. Your insurer (the one you were with at the time of the accident) remains responsible for all your liabilities that result from the accident, however long it takes for them to be settled (in theory some personal injury claims could take decades). Contact your insurer ASAP and take it from there. 

@Aretnap thank you for your response - i have now contacted my (then) insurers, and scanned all court papers and emailed it to them. here's hoping they take care of things before the 14 day deadline

Gerard55

Aretnap said:

Gerard55 said:

0Aretnap said:

Gerard55 said:

neilmcl said:

Speak to your insurer and forward all correspondence. 

@neilmcl even though this car accident occurred more than 3 years ago? 

I am very worried 

Yes, 3 years is quite a long time for these things to get settled, but not impossibly long. Your insurer (the one you were with at the time of the accident) remains responsible for all your liabilities that result from the accident, however long it takes for them to be settled (in theory some personal injury claims could take decades). Contact your insurer ASAP and take it from there. 

I'm so worried that they will ignore me (was with General Accident and they have terrible reviews...) Plus, according to the county court papers, I have 14 days to respond....

They won't ignore you. And even if they do, it will just mean that they land themselves with a bill. If a county court judgement did get made against you, the law specifically requires your insurance company to pay it on your behalf. (Unless they have already taken steps to void the policy, which they can only do in very limited circumstances, such as if you lied about something on the application form).

Do not attempt to deal with the claim yourself or enter a defence without speaking to your insurance company first. 

@AretnapI have not acknowledged the claim myself or entered a defence - just sent everything to insurers, as suggested by you and others. thank you.

Gerard55

Aretnap said:

To give you some more information about why you've received this claim form, and why it's not particularly unusual or anything to get too stressed about...

Someone (the other driver, his insurer and/or his accident management company) is blaming you for the accident and trying to claim from your insurance for his repairs, car hire etc. For whatever reason you insurer has not paid what they're asking for - maybe they're still arguing over who is to blame, maybe they're disputing the cost of the repairs, or maybe the overworked claims department is just being slow.

It doesn't matter hugely what the reason is - if they can't come to an agreement with your insurance company they only way to frce your insurance company to pay is via a court claim.

Now any court claim has to be made against you personally - you are the one who (they are claiming) is to blame for the accident, so ultimately you are the person who (they are claiming) is liable. They can't take your insurance company to court directly because nobody is claiming that your insurance company damaged the other guy's car. Instead they take you to court, and you have to ask your insurance company to deal with the claim on your behalf, as they are bound to do by your contract with them.

Rest assured that (1) it's unlikely that it will actually get as far as a courtroom and (2) even if it does, your insurance company will still be the ones who end up putting their hands in their pockets at the end of the day, not you personally.

So you see that while it's doubtless a shock to get a letter like this, in reality it's a common part of the process of a disputed claim, or a claim that is dragging on. It's not something to be sick with worry about. Just pass the details on to your insurer and let them worry about it. You pay them good money precisely so that when things like this happen it's your insurer's problem, not yours.

@Aretnap I cannot thank you enough for the time and effort you put into this response. This is the best response I received as it really helped me to calm down and have a good night's sleep. I was truly sick with worry until I read this. Your explanation here is thorough and well articulated. I have very limited knowledge of court letters and insurance processes and I did not know that receiving court papers is typical in such a situation. Thank you again.

Gerard55

Coupon-mad said:

You cannot not respond to a county court claim form.  The OP must acknowledge it to buy more time  (then defend within 28 days plus 5) or he/she will get a CCJ.

Certainly ask the insurer what they want you do do but DO NOT fail to follow your deadlines to acknowledge and then defend.

@Coupon-mad thank you for your reply however I believe I should not be the one to acknowledge and/or defend the county court form as per @Aretnap and others responses. I think its the insurers that deal with these sorts of papers... as they indemnify for anything to do with the accident. Please let me know why you think otherwise?

Gerard55

Car_54 said:

Coupon-mad said:

You cannot not respond to a county court claim form.  The OP must acknowledge it to buy more time  (then defend within 28 days plus 5) or he/she will get a CCJ.

Certainly ask the insurer what they want you do do but DO NOT fail to follow your deadlines to acknowledge and then defend.

No, the OP is almost certainly obliged to pass the court correspondence - unanswered and ASAP -  to his iinsurers. They will defend it.

@Car_54 thank you for your reply - i have done so as you and others have suggested. 

Gerard55

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Not sure about this one, could easily go wrong IF OP doesn't act speedily. Will the insurance company assist in removing a CCJ the OP could end up with, doubt it. What I can say is if it were me in this unfortunate position I wouldn't take the chance of ending up with a CCJ because the insurance company took too long in dealing with it or even advised me they will take care of it but then don't which appears that 'might' be the case by the OP's thoughts on their previous insurers dealings, reviews etc.

Another thing that would make me spring into action is it's the OP that's being sued at this stage NOT the insurance company, surely common sense would dictate that acknowledging the claim is the only route that can be gone down.

I would be onto the legal department of the insurance company demanding their advice on how to deal with this Court claim, I'm sure once they've been informed they will be aware the clock is ticking on this matter but it wouldn't surprise me if OP was advised to acknowledge and then the insurance company assists/deals with the defence.

Let's hope we get an update from the OP, be interested to know which route was the correct one and this may help others in the future too.   

@onlyfoolsandparking thank you for your reply - as far as I understand as per the other posts here, it is down to the insurer to deal with this and indemnify for anything to do with the accident. I am so far going to hold hope that they will deal with it accordingly in the time frame required. I plan to chase them on the telephone every couple of days and have requested a written email to say that they are dealing with it.

They have responded saying that they are "in receipt of my email" have "appointed X as Legal recovery solicitors hence we have asked them to deal with the third parties counter claim."

Although I am being sued (because I was driving), the insurance company should cover me for everything to do with this accident (going by what @Aretnap and others have mentioned). 

Lady I spoke with from the insurance company told me over the phone that I should not deal with this myself.

Jenni_D

If the claim form had contact details for the claimant I suppose you could email them to advise them that you've passed the claim to your insurer of record at the time for them to process on your behalf? That way you can't be accused of ignoring it.

Gerard55

Jenni_D said:

If the claim form had contact details for the claimant I suppose you could email them to advise them that you've passed the claim to your insurer of record at the time for them to process on your behalf? That way you can't be accused of ignoring it.

@Jenni_D i just have their name and home address - don't think i'd feel comfortable contacting them via letter, to be honest with you. worried any correspondence direct from me would come to bite me back in some way...