Injury during car accident | Disputed liability

Davina_Hart

Hi,

I’m looking for a bit of advice really.

We had a car accident in September last year whilst my husband was driving the car. I was eight months pregnant at the time. On a roundabout another vehicle hit our car from the side. The other party thought my husband was going to change the lane so he could use the lane our car was in. None of the party accepted the liability and incident was reported to the insurance company. Since we had front dashcam, we provided the footage to our insurance company. In the footage, it was evident the other driver was driving fast and changed his lane assuming that we are going to take another lane.

The case has been dragged on for nearly 10 months without much movement. After the incident, I sustained constant back pain due to which I had to be admitted in labour earlier than the due date. Since conceiving a baby, I have had to attend a few physio sessions arranged by NHS followed with a recent MRI scan of my lower back. We had legal cover with our insurance company so we asked for private medical attention, they shove their hands stating they won’t be able to recover the cost from other party and advised to stick with NHS.

While all this was happening, the other party has made an injury claim through one of those ‘no win no fee’ sort of solicitor firm. The other party is continually disputing the liability. I have asked to invoke legal action but my insurance company does not want to take this approach. They have stated there is a conflict of interest between your and your driver’s file (my husband), both of which are currently being dealt by them.

 

The insurance company’s legal team has recently written to me stating I have two options:

1.       My case will transfer to their chosen alternative solicitor firm

 

2.       I bring my own solicitor firm to deal with the case, but they won’t cover legal expenses to an independent solicitor firm.

 

Please advise which option should I take as I don’t want to take too much stress with this anymore. 

  

 

DullGreyGuy

Are the injurys just for you as a passenger of one of the vehicles or is there any for your husband/driver?

As a passenger your claim is broadly independent of liability as even if its settled 50/50 you still get the same payout its just shared between the two insurers. Your husbands would be a different kettle of fish as he can only claim for the proportion of liability the third party is on the hook for. 

Before you make your decision, ask them who'd they'd transfer the file to if you use their choice of law firm. The reality, like most things, is that it really comes down to who your personal fee earner is as all companies have good and poor employees which you wont know until the decision is made but you can find trends with some firms having more complaints than others (proportionally) 

Have you posted the footage from the dashcam online at all?

Davina_Hart

DullGreyGuy - Thanks for taking time to respond, I appreciate it. 

No injury to my husband. 

Yes, the footage was shared promptly with our insurance provider. The same was forwarded to the other party's insurance company. I think this is what you have asked

Davina_Hart

Also, do you think an independent solicitor may be a better option here as they would want to work speedily to get their share of payout as compared to their solicitor which is Lyons Davidson?

doningtonphil

The fact they wan the Op to have a different Solicitor to her hsuband, does that mean they feel there is a chance the Op may be claiming against her husband?

user1977

doningtonphil said:

The fact they wan the Op to have a different Solicitor to her hsuband, does that mean they feel there is a chance the Op may be claiming against her husband?

Yes, I can see that being likely - after all, the OP almost certainly has a claim (the only question is against which, or both, drivers), so if any of the liability was husband's then the solicitors definitely couldn't act for both - so cleaner to start off with separate solicitors.

Davina_Hart

Thanks for the responses on my query. 

We have gone with their recommended solicitor to transfer our file due to conflict of interest. I have received a confirmation letter they are taking over the claim.

As per their terrms and condition we have to bear their cost. I am unable to understand why we have to bear their charges when we had all legal charges covered with the insurance provider through legal cover.

I am unsure if I am reading this correctly. Please can someone confirm if I am right in saying there are cost for their services. Attached is the extract of their terms.

Aretnap

It says that you are ultimately responsible for paying the fees, but that you have insurance which will cover those fees for you (up to £100K). So if you did get a bill from the solicitors you would just pass it on to your insurer and ask them to pay it.

You would only have to bear the costs yourself if your insurer didn't pay for some reason - most likely because your breached their terms, for example by misleading them about the accident to make them think that you had a much better chance of winning than in fact you did. So long as you haven't done anything like that you have nothing to worry about.

Davina_Hart

Thanks Aretnap for taking time to explain

MEM62

Davina_Hart said:

Also, do you think an independent solicitor may be a better option here as they would want to work speedily to get their share of payout as compared to their solicitor which is Lyons Davidson?

'Their share of the payout' suggests a NWNF firm.  A bottom feeder of the legal world is probably not good enough in this case.  I think the OP need a real solicitor.   

Grey_Critic

MEM62 said:

Davina_Hart said:

Also, do you think an independent solicitor may be a better option here as they would want to work speedily to get their share of payout as compared to their solicitor which is Lyons Davidson?

'Their share of the payout' suggests a NWNF firm.  A bottom feeder of the legal world is probably not good enough in this case.  I think the OP need a real solicitor.   

If you go on the Lyons Davidson website they state they are a NWNF outfit I agree with MEM62 find a *Proper* solicitor