Small Claims Court with two companies denying liability

ThorOdinson

A while back the road outside my house was resurfaced. As part of that work a manhole cover was replaced by Colas. It was loose and rattled all night, disturbing our sleep every time a car went over it (it's a main road). Eventually Colas fixed it, but it took months.

Colas are blaming Southern Water for supplying a "light weight" cover that didn't fit properly. Southern Water are blaming Colas for not installing it properly.

Both have refused compensation for the long term disturbance, so I'm going to proceed to Small Claims Court on the basis that it made life hell for months, made us tried and strung out, and made us dread going to bed with the constant banging outside.

Should I just name both of them and claim half from each? Or just name Colas and let them claim it back from Southern Water if they want to, since Colas is probably the most to blame here. They fitted the cover, they could see it was not secure, and it took them months to fix it.

la531983

You are on a hiding to nothing. What is your financial loss? You cant claim in the small claims court for hurt feelings and inconvenience. 

fluffymuffy

Did you have a contract with either company? Or are you claiming under negligence law? In which case you have to demonstrate that they had a duty of care to you, and that there was a breach of that duty, and that damage arose from that breach. Also that the damage wasn't too remote and was unforeseeable. Good luck.
 

ThorOdinson

Negligence. It seems like it won't be too difficult to argue that they had a duty not to keep everyone awake all night by installing a defective manhole cover. Basic health and safety. Very easy to foresee when installing it, and they took months to rectify it.

MeteredOut

ThorOdinson said:

Negligence. It seems like it won't be too difficult to argue that they had a duty not to keep everyone awake all night by installing a defective manhole cover. Basic health and safety. Very easy to foresee when installing it, and they took months to rectify it.

Paying devils advocate, what proof do you have they they kept everyone awake all night?

I assume you have recordings of the noise at, eg, 3am over multiple nights, with cars going past causing the disturbance.

HopeAndDriftWood

At a guess, I'd say Southern Water, who you presumably have a contract with to supply water, and they'd then counter-sue Colas as their contractor...

But I'm not confident of your chances of success here if I'm honest. Have you got other people who were affected and are happy to provide as such? Recordings of the ongoing noise? 

It must have been horrid. Did white noise or anything not take the edge off? 

saajan_12

HopeAndDriftWood said:

At a guess, I'd say Southern Water, who you presumably have a contract with to supply water, and they'd then counter-sue Colas as their contractor...

But I'm not confident of your chances of success here if I'm honest. Have you got other people who were affected and are happy to provide as such? Recordings of the ongoing noise? 

It must have been horrid. Did white noise or anything not take the edge off? 

But this issue isn't part of their contract to supply. OP is still getting the supply. A manhole cover on a public street is a more general thing that would be an issue regardless of contract. 

ThorOdinson

HopeAndDriftWood said:

At a guess, I'd say Southern Water, who you presumably have a contract with to supply water, and they'd then counter-sue Colas as their contractor...

But I'm not confident of your chances of success here if I'm honest. Have you got other people who were affected and are happy to provide as such? Recordings of the ongoing noise? 

It must have been horrid. Did white noise or anything not take the edge off? 

Unfortunately there are no recordings of the noise, but there are other witnesses who would be happy to provide statements.

Unfortunately nothing really helped. White noise would have had to be very loud, and earplugs are uncomfortable.

Colas resurfaced the road at the request of the council, which involved replacing manhole covers as part of that work. They claim that Southern Water supplied the covers, but I have no way of knowing if they were lying. Southern Water deny all knowledge, claiming to not even know who Colas are, which I find pretty unlikely.

henry24

How much are you trying to claim?

unforeseen

It would be the council not Colas. Colas are just acting as the councils highways maintenance arm. 

ThorOdinson

unforeseen said:

It would be the council not Colas. Colas are just acting as the councils highways maintenance arm. 

That's an interesting point. Of course the council tried to blame Colas.