Hi all, a little advice required here please, my other half received a letter today notifying her she’s being taken to court regarding an car crash she was involved in a couple of years ago.

The crash was her fault and the other party is apparently trying to recover costs of a holiday they couldn’t go on due to injury.

Just wondering what the chances are of the case being successful and what her course of action should be??

contact her insurer and do not say anything to anyone else.

Was there an insurance settlement at the time?

Remind them what holiday insurance is for?

Probably just a scum bag opportunist claims company trying their luck to get some money out of your wife…..

Thanks, kind of what we were thinking.

If I had to cancel a holiday because someone crashed their car into me then I’d want them to pay for it. Not sure on the legalities of this scenario, but it does seem fair to me.

Wouldn’t your wife’s insurance cover this?

Probably just a scum bag opportunist claims company trying their luck to get some money out of your wife…..

Yeah, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.

I’ve been caught out like this and they have 6 years during which they can take action.

Assuming her insurer paid out at the time you need to do what wwaswas said and dump it all on them.

If you came to some other kind of arrangement them maybe someone else will have an idea.

Seems strange to approach you directly as above, it’s your insurance company at the times problem.

It sounds a bit speculative though, trying it on after so long.

I had that 6 months ago, me driving the missisis car, no damage to either, (didn’t even tell the insurance co.s at the time) followed a year later by a ambulance chasing claim letter. Following advice on here, which I was reluctant to do in the first instance as I assumed it would drive up premiums, I let the insuance deal with it. Aviva were excellent and completely debunked the claim. No premium hit on either hers or my insurance either, which was a bonus.

Did they claim injury at the time as well? If so then they have 3 years to either settle the claim or litigate. Claiming the cost of a completely missed holiday, or for “loss of enjoyment” of a holiday you still attended are legitimate heads of claim.

Sounds odd. As others have said contact your insurer that’s their job. I would guess your wife’s insurers have already settled as it was 2 years ago, so would that settlement not be for all liabilities? Should the other party not of included this with their original claim?
Bloody chancers i say.

Insurance – do and say nothing until you’ve spoken to them.

If the insurers closed the claim with a final settlement to the third party, they can whistle.

Otherwise I think the statute is still 3 years?

Seems strange to approach you directly as above, it’s your insurance company at the times problem.

I thought that when it happened to me. There had been a claim set up, they’d already dealt with the insurer so why bother me with it? Anyway, they sent it to me direct in the post yonks afterwards for me to remind myself who the insurer had been and forward it on.

My insurer just paid up which annoyed me because it was obviously a try on, but it didn’t directly affect my premium because it was small amount compared to the orginal claims. (SWMBO drove herself into a load of cars, people, vicars, trees, street furnature, ponds. Just a normal driving day for a lady-person of the contrary gender.)

Sounds odd.

Exactly what happend to me.

As others have said contact your insurer that’s their job.

This. Just dump it on them.

I would guess your wife’s insurers have already settled as it was 2 years ago, so would that settlement not be for all liabilities?

That’s what I thought, but nope. People can try to sue you for any legitimate expense that pops into their head for 6 years.

Should the other party not of included this with their original claim?

Morally, perhaps, but legally no.

(SWMBO drove herself into a load of cars, people, vicars, trees, street furnature, ponds. Just a normal driving day for a lady-person of the contrary gender.)

Sounds like a grand day out!

Sounds like a grand day out!

I think ISIS claimed it as one of theirs!

Scam.

Say, for example, it was an injury claim. The claimant goes to her insurance company and claims compensation for their injury, they don’t come directly to her demanding money.

Here’s what I think has happened. She the accident, the third party made a claim, two respective insurers came to an agreement and made a full and final payment to settle the claim.

Fast forward two years, the third party gets an unsolicited phone call, “I believe you’ve recently been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, is that correct?” They discuss the claim and, giving the third party the benefit of the doubt that the tale is true, it comes out that they had an uninsured loss (in so far as, they had to cancel and didn’t take out holiday insurance).

Now, this should’ve been presented with the claim at the time but they didn’t, presumably they didn’t think to check that they could. It should go through the insurance but, as I said, the insurer has made a full and final payment, in their view the matter is settled. So they send a scary-looking letter threatening legal action in the hope that you’ll panic and write them a cheque to make them go away. She’ll probably get a series of increasingly threatening letters if she ignores it.

In the first instance she needs to notify her insurer at the time, who should be able to advise.

If they persist I’d write back to them, recorded delivery, saying that the claim was settled in full at the time of the incident and any further correspondence regarding the incident should be directed to her insurer at the time. I’d probably also add that any further pursuit of this claim direct to herself will be considered harassment.

Oh, and if they ring, never ever engage them in conversation. It’s too easy to accidentally admit liability for something and you have no record of the conversation. Tell them you will only communicate with them in writing and hang up.

Seems strange to approach you directly as above

I suppose technically they’re claiming against the driver so in one sense it makes sense to write to them. Happened to me after a crash that was the other driver’s fault. She tried to claim her excess back off me despite her being the one that was done for careless driving 🙂

But even so

it’s your insurance company at the times problem

so do as suggested above, send it all on to them and don’t contact the claimant directly. No idea what mine did (or my mum’s insurers, it was so long ago).

Seems very convenient that after a few years they’ve just remembered a holiday they couldn’t take.

Does the letter say “pay us xxx money or we may take you to court”

Or is it an actual court papers?

speak to the insurance company you were with at the time. My worry would be if they’ve settled in full they may say “your problem”
Check your house insurance for legal cover as well.

It is for your insurer’s to sort out, so you need to forward any Court papers to them for them to deal.

With regards to those stating that they are coming back for a second bite of the cherry, they can’t bring an injury claim and settle that, then come back for a claim for loss of holiday or of loss of enjoyment later on, they can’t bring a second action in their name for a head of claim such as this as it is part of the injury claim they had made.

Cougar, you say “scam” as your first word, and then go on to describe a situation where the other party has a perfectly legitimate legal claim for compensation. 😐

So, the insurance company she was with at the time don’t appear to have any record of it…

The claimant goes to her insurance company and claims compensation for their injury, they don’t come directly to her demanding money.

That’s a reasonable assumption but false. I just got a letter from their (ambulance chaser) solicitor. No obviously I just forwarded it to our insurer, but the claimant didn’t send it to my insurer themselves. Perhaps they remembered my details, but not the insurers or perhaps it’s standard practice.

Here’s what I think has happened. She the accident, the third party made a claim, two respective insurers came to an agreement and made a full and final payment to settle the claim.

AFAICT there’s no such things as a full and final settlement. The claimer is quite entitled to recollect an expense up to 6 years later and try to sue for it. You can’t just say “I compensated you for Y at the time so I won’t compensate you for X now.”

the insurer has made a full and final payment, in their view the matter is settled.

From my experience I think insurers are *very* used to settling additional claims months later.

So they send a scary-looking letter threatening legal action in the hope that you’ll panic and write them a cheque to make them go away.

I think they’re well aware the letter will be forwarded straight to the insurer.

I’d write back to them, recorded delivery, saying that the claim was settled in full at the time of the incident and any further correspondence regarding the incident should be directed to her insurer at the time.

Can’t hurt, but assuming the OPs insurer has already paid out, if the OP is going to post a letter, why not just post the letter he’s already got direct to his own insurer and let them chase it up?

go on to describe a situation where the other party has had a perfectly legitimate legal claim for compensation.

FTFY.

As far as I’m aware, and I could be wrong as I’m not a legal expert but an armchair warrior, once a final settlement is made you cannot legally come back and ask for more later on. This is interesting though:

People can try to sue you for any legitimate expense that pops into their head for 6 years.

You can come after people for debts for up to six years, after which it becomes statute barred. I’ve never come across that for insurance claims though (not saying it’s wrong, just I’ve not seen it before). Was that after you’d had an insurance settlement, OOB?

Cougar, you say “scam” as your first word, and then go on to describe a situation where the other party has a perfectly legitimate legal claim for compensation.

It *feels* like a scam when you’re on the receiving end, I can assure you! A 6 year limit is mental. It should be 6 months. If you haven’t realized you’ve suffered a loss after 6 months, it can’t be much of a loss.

So, the insurance company she was with at the time don’t appear to have any record of it…

That’s their problem, surely?

AFAICT there’s no such things as a full and final settlement. The claimer is quite entitled to recollect an expense up to 6 years later and try to sue for it. You can’t just say “I compensated you for Y at the time so I won’t compensate you for X now.”

Right. IDNKT if so.

assuming the OPs insurer has already paid out, if the OP is going to post a letter, why not just post the letter he’s already got direct to his own insurer and let them chase it up?

Agreed.

You can come after people for debts for up to six years, after which it becomes statute barred. I’ve never come across that for insurance claims though (not saying it’s wrong, just I’ve not seen it before). Was that after you’d had an insurance settlement, OOB?

Yup. When you think about it insurance is irrelvant here. If someone has a claim for redress against me they have 6 years to sue me. The fact I’m insured is irrelevant to the guy making the claim.

So yeah. My insurer paid out. The whole thing was finished and then 18 months later someone says they’re suing me. I assumed it was a scam and checked with the law firm handling it and he convinced me verbally it was genuine enough for me to forward to my insurer which I did and they re-opened the claim and (to my disgust) paid out.

If the insurer had (say) gone out of business in the meantime, I guess I’d have to have defended the claim myself.

It sucks but it’s logical and reasonable within the law as it is.

It *feels* like a scam when you’re on the receiving end, I can assure you! A 6 year limit is mental. It should be 6 months. If you haven’t realized you’ve suffered a loss after 6 months, it can’t be much of a loss.

Likewise, suffer a traumatic brain injury or serious spinal injuries which result in you having to move to a new, specially adapted house, quit your job, buy a disabled-accessible car etc etc and after 6 months you might still be in the rehab hospital and in no state to come up with a value for the final value of the injuries.

Edit: and yes, you might be aware of the injuries but you won’t necessarily know what impact they will have. Say you’re booked onto a ‘once in a lifetime’ MTB event in New Zealand at the start of 2019, if you get wiped out by a driver on the way home from work it might not be another year until you realise that you’re not going to recover from your injuries in time for the event.

i can go on all day about this, but…

6 or 7 years ago i was hit by a bus, low speed no injuries.

someone, i suspect my insurer, sold my details and for 5 years on a daily basis i would have multiple calls from insurance claim companies using the most incredible lies to get me to make an accident injury claim. as the years went by i obviously went on cheaper lists as the calibre of the companies got worse and so did their tactics.

sadly i am not at all surprised that someone would claim after many years, i was also tempted myself a few times when a call came and i was short of cash.

but as has been said already, phone your insurers immediately.

i really do think that it is discusting this accident claims industry is allowed to operate in this way and no wonder car insurance is so ridiculous.

It’s not “an insurance claim”, it’s a claim for damages against a driver under civil law, and it certainly used to be (when I was a claims manager) statute barred after 3 years.

This what you pay your insurers to deal with, so ask them, not us.

If the claimant was unable to go on holiday due to injuries sustained in the accident, they could include that in their claim, but they’d have to prove causation and loss.

It is possible the insurers are arguing the claim still, and after two years the claimant is starting proper legal action to protect their position before the 3 year limitation kicks in

Likewise, suffer a traumatic brain injury or serious spinal injuries which result in you having to move to a new, specially adapted house, quit your job, buy a disabled-accessible car etc etc and after 6 months you might still be in the rehab hospital and in no state to come up with a value for the final value of the injuries.

Edit: and yes, you might be aware of the injuries but you won’t necessarily know what impact they will have. Say you’re booked onto a ‘once in a lifetime’ MTB event in New Zealand at the start of 2019, if you get wiped out by a driver on the way home from work it might not be another year until you realise that you’re not going to recover from your injuries in time for the event.

Great, so now you’re depriving me of the masochistic pleasure of being outraged about it. Thanks a lot, killjoy.

, my other half received a letter today notifying her she’s being taken to court regarding an car crash she was involved in a couple of years ago.

Who sent the letter? THe other party or their insurers? Whoever it was, pass it over to your insurers to deal with.
Unless of course, you settled the claim without telling your insurers…

It’s not “an insurance claim”, it’s a claim for damages against a driver under civil law, and it certainly used to be (when I was a claims manager) statute barred after 3 years.

You know more about this than me but only injury damages seem to be statute locked at 3 years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limitation_periods_in_the_UK#Injury_litigation

I’m many years away from the game so the period may be different now.

If the lost holiday was as a result of an injury, it would all have to be rolled up in the one claim anyway.

will almost definitely be a scam driven by a personal injury lawyer.

statute of limitations for personal injury claims (and associated costs)is 3 years unless court proceedings have started. its amazing how many claims suddenly come out of the woodwork as the time limit approaches

do and say nothing. do not respond to the letter. pass it all to the your insurance company that handled the original claim.

Great, so now you’re depriving me of the masochistic pleasure of being outraged about it. Thanks a lot, killjoy.

Meh, sue me! 😉

meh! sue me

He probably will (in early 2023). 😛