Old claim paid out, Insurers now suing 3rd party to reclaim pay-out.

Cmdr_Bond

This all seems very strange, and I'm not directly involved.  As usual, I am helping a friend who's first language is not English.

Firstly, through all this, my friend does not believe they have received anything in the regular mail.

A few years ago my friend was involved in an RTC.  Their insurer paid out, and deemed the 3rd party at fault.  It appears that the insurer has not been able to reclaim what they paid out from the 3rd party's insurers.

My friend showed me an email today that has a court document attached, which I believe to be either the start of a small claims procedure or CCJ.

I have gone through my friends email, and have found a few previous emails from the insurer, plus some other emails from the legal group handling the claim (in her spam folder).

From the quick glances I had at the documents, it appears the insurers are claiming for their pay-out, plus interest, from the third party.  And I can certainly understand why the insurer would do this.  In one of the emails, the insurer states they are covering the costs of this case, and that my friend may (although unlikely) have to attend court to testify - again, understandable.

What concerns me (apart from the lack of physical mail), and I will be talking to both the insurer and the legal team on Monday about this, is that the claim is in my friends name and not that of the insurer, does this sound right?  Can the insurer start a claim, and list my friend as the claimant?

The insurer is a well known established brand, trading for 40 years.

Okell

I'm no insurance expert but what you say sounds right to me.

The claim will be in your friend's name (not her insurance company's name) because she was the "victim" of the original accident.  It is this original accident that the court claim is based on, not on her insurance company's failure to recover their payout from the third party.

If you (or she) reads the T&Cs of her insurance policy you will see that she is required to assist the insurer in this sort of case by for example providing a statement or by appearing as a witness in court.

Although the court claim is in her name and she may have to be a witness in any court case, her insurance company will manage the claim on her behalf.

As I say, I'm no insurnace expert and I'm not a lawyer so wait to see what other answers you get here.

(Has she considered phoning her insurance company for clarification as to what is happening?  That's what I'd do.  Also she really needs to keep on top of all her correspondence if this is going to court...)

Aretnap

Okrll is correct. Your friend's insurer cannot take the third party to court themselves - they have not been (directly) harmed by the other drivers actions. It's your friend's property that was damaged, and only your friend can claim for that.

So in a legal sense it's your friend who is suing the other driver, though in a practical sense their insurer will do nearly all the work on their behalf - managing the case, paying the legal fees etc. If your friend does have to go to court it will just be to say what happened in the accident, and the industry will cover all costs, even if they lose the case.

Cmdr_Bond

Thank you both. 

That makes some sense, and we're making the phone calls today anyway.

DullGreyGuy

The law gives insurers subrogated rights and so technically if the only losses are their payout it could be your insurer issuing in their own name. If however you have any uninsured losses you are wanting to recover, eg the policy excess, then it has to be in the name of the driver because those losses are not theirs. 

Most cases are done in the names of the drivers though, not all though, and it does make life easier, were it the norm for the insurers to issue on each other there would be millions of case law of Direct Line -v- Aviva which is going to make citation a real pain in the !!!!!!.