Help! Being sued by other party in private claim????

ferretktf

Hi

just a short precis

involved in a small collision back in August. No damage to my vehicle, some damage to the other one.

Fully reported to my insurance company who dealt with his insurance company

Last I heard (february) - my insurance company told me they were aiming to settle it on a 50/50 basis - both side pay their own. I had no damage and my no claims was protected so it didn't really bother me.

Heard nothing else so assumed it had been settled.

Out of the blue today I received a county court writ from the other driver, claiming personally against me for :-

£100 excess on his own insurance
£1200 what his insurance paid for the repairs
£200 court costs and solicitors fees


This has hit me for six? How can he sue me after his and my insurance companies have reached agreement over the claim?

Even if he can then surely it would be for the excess only -- how can he sue me for money his insurance company has paid out?


What are my next steps --- obviously to contact my insurance company but an added complication is that I am not with them any more --- plus i had no legal coverage on that policy -- or any current policy.

I will still ring them when they open in the morning however.


Do I just reply to the courts stating that this was referred to insurers and that therefore I contest the personal claim?


Is he just trying it on - in which case he is gambling £200 in costs to win £1500 ... a 15/2 shot ... are his odds of winning really that good.



Any other advice over my next steps ???? Is this as bizarre as I am thinking it is??


Should I tell my insurance company to settle the claim in his favour -- so they pay (my no claims is protected) or will they refuse to do so now that they have reached agreement with his insurers?

Lorne

Do you have legal services on your car insurance? If so I would get onto them in the morning and hand it straight over to them to deal with. It doesn't sound right that the other party can claim against you when the insurance companies have settled between them. Good luck with it.

mum2one

it sounds like the other driver is trying to pull a fast one, check your insurance for legal cover and agree with the other poster get hold of your ins company.
It sounds like they may have a no win no fee lawyer, who gets paid regardless of the outcome of the case.
You def need legal advice from ur ins company, as settlement agreed between the ins companies is legally blinding, I should know had 3 car accidents that involved settlements.

Vomityspice

The other driver is taking a civil action against you (which they are entitled to do!)

However, the burden of proof is with them, so they would have to prove negligence on your part. How they are going to do this should be apparent from the paperwork you have.

I presume they are disagreeing with their insurers about who is to blame. It might be worthwhile to find out if they have been paid out as this would imply they accepted the settlement.

As a thought you may have legal cover on you home insurance that would cover it

I'm also confused as to his 'actual losses', as he can only claim for these. Again, I suspect this would just be his excess (£100) as he didn't pay the £1200 so can't claim for this. In addition the £200 for a solicitor is unlikely to be allowed in a small claim such as this as the other party made a choice to seek legal advice.

I'm not convinced that it really did cost £200 to be told to make a small claim! rather it's more likely that the other party may have legal cover and the legal advice suggested it as a way to deflect their client who is being a bit silly (technical term). This has the benefit of not involving them!

If you let us know what the summons says (word to word) there is bound to be someone who will offer how to appropriately respond.

Quentin

When you say you have no legal coverage, I think you are referring to not having paid for the extra legal protection insurance. This is not necessary in this matter. Your insurer at the time of the incident will deal with this, and will cover you for your legal responsibility.

You don't need to rush into replying to the summons, so don't do anything until advised by your insurer.

It sounds as if the insurers have not agreed on liability, and the other party insurers feel that you are liable.

Try not to get too worried, this will be sorted by your insurer.

mattymoo

Quentin is on the right lines for sure.

You had assumed your insurers had dealt with the matter but this is not the case. Either through admin incompetence / delays or a simple failure to agree the apportionment of blame, the other driver and his insurers have resorted to legal procedings in order to bring matters to a head.

Simply telephone your insurers and advise them you have received the summons and then send it to them via recorded delivery. Time is of the essence because they have to lodge a defence with the court to avoid judgement being made against you in default (for not responding).

Once the defence is lodged, discussions continue as before but the serving of the summons is a sign of the other sides determination to follow through with the case and your insurers may well proceed to settlement on less favourable terms than they had hoped.

Ignore the rest of the advice before Quentins. This kind of thing happens day in day out and the insurers will know what to do with it. Do not under any circumstances try and deal with it yourself.

Riq

I was told when I had my smash that if I get ANY solicitor letters regarding the crash to forward them on to them and they will deal with it all.

Just call them in the morning and explain.

ferretktf

thanks to all of you for your very quick, helpful and reassuring comments.

Will post back later when I have spoken to the insurance company.

Lorne

Good luck Ferret!

Somerset

I had the same. Was involved in an accident, thought it had been sorted 50/50 and 3 years later got a summons from Liverpool Court. In my cas he was claiming whiplash and there were doctors and specialists reports in the bundle. Completely freaked me out. Once I'd tracked down my old insurers (which took a while) they told me send everything to them, which I did. Reading between the lines, the claim was never 'settled', the insurers batted it back and forth, or it got lost or whatever - I didn't know, just assumed it had been dealt with per conversations at the time. i understand it's common to send Court papers to the driver because a) they are the actual party and b) they panic and promptly put a rocket up their insurers a**e, and it actually get addressed. In my case my insurers seemed neither surprised nor apologetic that this had happened. Remember it was 3 years. We assume things are dealt with per conversations with insurers, but in reality they leave you out of the loop and you don't really know what they've done/decided.

ferret

Quick Update:

Have phoned my insurers and am posting everything recorded delivery today.

I will take a photocopy first mind you.


They told me that they had no yet reached agreement over liability with the other insurers yet and they did not seem too surprised that I had recevied a writ so my take was that it is fairly common - this has relieved me a little.

Am just a little bit concerned because as I am personally listed, if the insurance company don't respond to the writ in a timely manner, is there any comeback on me? should I also be contacting the courts to let them know it has been passed to my insurer?

And now the bizarre bit ....

My insurers are Prudential -- who's address to send the writ to is 14-18 Cadogan Street in Glasgow

I have looked up the plaintiffs solicitors, as stated in the writ, on the internet and found that they have an address of 19 Cadogan Street in Glasgow?

19 Cadogan Street is also the registered address of Esure Ltd (also their subsidiarys First Alternative, Sheila's Wheels, Sainsburys, Halifax) -- so presumably that is the plaintiff's insurers?


so is this the case of - in reality - one insurer suing the other one - but using the drivers details in the writ ??