Neighbours fire

Sandtree

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Grumpy_chap

I sympathise with the OP and the bad experience but I can't see that there is anything more to claim here other than that which will be covered by the freeholder's buildings insurance and the OP's contents insurance.  Those insurances are in place to mitigate the impacts of these types of events and that is exactly what they will do.

Thumbs_Up

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Alderbank

Thumbs_Up said:

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Yes, that's a good example of the different cultural environment on both sides of the Atlantic.
She suffered horrific injuries and required extensive skin grafts leaving permanent, life-changing scars. There is no NHS in the USA and much of that money was special damages to pay the eye-watering medical costs. It emerged that the cost of treatment would otherwise have left her bankrupt, a situation which we would never see in the UK.

Thumbs_Up

Alderbank said:

Thumbs_Up said:

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Yes, that's a good example of the different cultural environment on both sides of the Atlantic.
She suffered horrific injuries and required extensive skin grafts leaving permanent, life-changing scars. There is no NHS in the USA and much of that money was special damages to pay the eye-watering medical costs. It emerged that the cost of treatment would otherwise have left her bankrupt, a situation which we would never see in the UK.

 

Its a culture that’s creeping over here like the no win no fee solicitors. Perhaps I have a hankering for the old ways you know when the postman walks on your drive and accidently stubs his little toe on that little stone you should have brushed away ‘’sorry guv my fault’’.. Now days just make sure house insurance is paid up.

FaceHead

It's a culture that's creeping to the UK, as seen the the OP's line of questioning. Someone does something stupid and an affected party sees and opportunity to sue for millions of emotional distress and inconvenience. 

If any such claim was possible, the upstairs tenant is unlikely to have the means to pay anything to the OP - they are a tenant who has just lost the contents of their flat and their deposit, which is likely to be the lion's share of what they own, which they now need to replace. I can't imagine they will e getting much sympathy from their landlord or content insurer (if any) as they have lit a BBQ that is expressly prohibited, and then forgotten about it. 

outtatune

Thumbs_Up said:

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Because the company knew that the coffee they were serving was dangerously hot, they chose to serve it at that temperature as it covered up the poor taste. They knew that a large number of people had suffered permanent scar burns resulting from their coffee but had decided that the cost to them of burning people and paying compensation was less than the cost to them buying better quality coffee which would be drinkable at a safe temperature.

Since then McDonalds and other companies have done a magnificent job in persuading people that anybody sueing them for the personal injuries they cause are engaging in frivolous litigation.

Sandtree

Thumbs_Up said:

Alderbank said:

Thumbs_Up said:

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Yes, that's a good example of the different cultural environment on both sides of the Atlantic.
She suffered horrific injuries and required extensive skin grafts leaving permanent, life-changing scars. There is no NHS in the USA and much of that money was special damages to pay the eye-watering medical costs. It emerged that the cost of treatment would otherwise have left her bankrupt, a situation which we would never see in the UK.

Its a culture that’s creeping over here like the no win no fee solicitors. Perhaps I have a hankering for the old ways you know when the postman walks on your drive and accidently stubs his little toe on that little stone you should have brushed away ‘’sorry guv my fault’’.. Now days just make sure house insurance is paid up.

Not really, what we are talking about is the damages awarded and no win no fee has had no impact on awards. With the Whiplash Reforms if anything the opposite is true now that minor soft tissue injuries are in the Small Track. 

We are becoming more litigious but that’s a separate issue. There are arguably multiple drivers for that but it’s not for this thread 

GDB2222

@euanovsky you need to make a claim against both insurance policies ASAP. If you need money for hotel accommodation, you should ask for interim payments.

 You should speak to insurers, but you probably need a six months rental. You can’t stay in a hotel for months.

We had a major fire in our house, so I have some practical experience. I hired loss assessors, in the end, which was money very well spent!

bris

Thumbs_Up said:

Sandtree said:

euanovsky said:
Thanks that is sort of broadly in line with what I was thinking. Just for my education how come people are able to sue for this kind of damage in the US but not in the UK?

Because they have a totally different legal system?

One of the key differences is that UK law is broadly based on the concept of indemnity, the "victim" shouldnt be out of pocket and is the "guilty's" responsibility to financially put them back in the same place. In the USA they have punitive damages which is that the "guilty" should pay $1m not because thats the loss the "victim" has suffered but to punish the "guilty" 

Most cases however do not include punitive damages, it creates some challenges with insurance, just for the "pain, suffering and loss of amenities" part the US legal system has decided a papercut is worth $500,000 whereas the UK will give £1 for the plaster/bandaide 

Like the woman who spilt a coffee over her lap in MacDonald’s she was initially awarded $2.7 million.   

Its also the reason the cups now have "caution contents may be hot" written on them. Yes it came about from that case and can never happen again because of those few little words.

But it's  the good ol USA there is always something else to sue for.