Can my neighbour sue his neighbour for insurance excess caused by negligence.

Artykst

A mutual neighbour (Mr A) lit a fire in a bin in the garden on a windy day last week and walked away.  The result was 2 fire engines, next door neighbours (Mrs shed written off including myriad contents, another neighbours (Mr C) summer house substantial damage and some trees set on fire. All neighbours claiming on their own insurance and insurance companies may seek reparation from Mr A insurance company, not our concern.  Mr A was obviously negligent and I know that is a pre requisite but can the other neighbours sue Mr A to recoup the £500 excesses they will suffer on their insurance let alone the resulting hike in their premiums that are inevitable. don't think they have even considered this possibility  but it seems unfair on them as he was so stupid.

subjecttocontract

I'd have thought your neighbours buildings insurance will claim the cost of the damage from the insurers of the man who started the fire.

Artykst

subjecttocontract said:

I'd have thought your neighbours buildings insurance will claim the cost of the damage from the insurers of the man who started the fire.

Yes that is exactly what I said.  What I am asking is can the neighbour sue the negligent neighbour for the excess they will have to pay on their own insurance.  Their insurance company will pay their damage but they are stuck with £500 excess because of his negligence, can they go to small claims court to recoup this from him?  Many thanks for reading.

mebu60

I would start by claiming uninsured losses including any excess from Mr A's insurance company. 

BarelySentientAI

Artykst said:

All neighbours claiming on their own insurance and insurance companies may seek reparation from Mr A insurance company, not our concern. 

It is your concern, because your insurance company (as they are acting on your behalf) can include the excess in what they try to recover.

Artykst said:

can the other neighbours sue Mr A to recoup the £500 excesses they will suffer on their insurance let alone the resulting hike in their premiums that are inevitable. 

For the excess, yes.  For future increases in premium, not really.  Seems odd to do it themselves when the insurers could do it for them, but yes they can.

XRS200

Any court action should be for all losses- what he has paid and what his insurers have paid.

DullGreyGuy

To expand on the above point... you can certainly pursue either him or his insurers but you need to be careful before suing him...

When you claim off your insurers they effectively inherit your rights of recover from the third party or their insurers. So even though they are the ones trying to get the money back they are doing it in your name. The law only allows a party to sue another party once for an incident otherwise people could continuously re-sue someone until they found a more favourable judge and get the outcome they want. So if you were to sue the person for your excess before your insurers have recovered their outlay they would then be legally blocked from getting their money back and so becomes a fault claim and could breach the terms of your policy. 

So attempt to pursue by all means but before issuing speak to the recoveries department of your insurer and come to an agreement with them before issuing proceedings. 

Increased premiums is a difficult one to claim because you'll never get your insurer to give you a letter to say your insurance will increase this year by £300, next year by £150, the following £75 and the last £30. Your renewal letter may say your quote has gone up £500 but it won't split it between claim, inflation, risk appetite changes etc etc. Even if they would send such a letter it's still not great evidence because the following you  may go elsewhere and their impact would be different. 

Some do make partially successful claims for it, in my day we'd give up to £50 as "FO" money where the claimant had no grounds but it was just to make them go away and stop wasting our time. 

ThorOdinson

Years ago when I claimed for increased premiums I used comparison sites for evidence. Got a little over £300 in the first year, and for the second we agreed £170 to settle it for good.