I'm b*&^%£y fuming

[Mesquite]

I had a very minor shunt at the beginning of the month. So minor that all the damage I had was a broken grill and the other person had a small crease in their bumper. Now I don't deny that I was at fault as I went into the back of him. We were in a queue of traffic, started moving then I had a sudden urge to sneeze and when I opened my eyes the guy in front had stopped and I didn't stop in time. The maxium speed I got up to was no higher than 10mph and I was braking as I hit him.

The usual thing happened in exchanging details, the guy was walking around and I asked him if he was fine and he said yes, I felt a nudge is all. Then we went off our seperate ways and I notified my insurers for notification purposes only as I didn't have any damage I was going to claim on, in fact I didn't know my grill was broken until 2 weeks later when I opened the bonnet to fill my windscreen wash.

So what arrives yesterday? A letter from a ruddy solicitors stating 'Personal injury protocol early notification of claim' and saying that their client Mr J Ngumo was instructing them to to make a claim for damages because of the accident and that their client had sustained personal injury!!!! The letter didn't even have my name or address spelt correctly. It's one thing to slightly misspell my name but to change it from Steve to Keith???? And I ask you what injuries can you sustain from such a minor shunt that you can't tell the cars were in one????

So now I'm being sued and it's going to affect my no clims and cost me £250 for some git trying it on to screw some money out of nothing. And no doubt my insurance company will pay it out as it's cheaper to do that than fight it.

I know I'm having a bit of a rant here but it's so ruddy frustrating

 

[Shewie]

Wouldn`t he need a hospital report to back up his injury claims, if the shunt was as minor as you say then surely they would`ve have discharged him 100% okay.
It`s said to say but we are becoming another sue culture like our friends over the pond and it`s something we have to get used to. All these "no win no fee" or "where there`s blaim there`s claim" tinpot law firms don`t help matters and should be regulated more scrupulously.
The wife had exactly the same kind of incident as you except she thought the guy in front had pulled out of a T junction, she looked right to check oncoming traffic, saw it was clear and started to pull out. Except in the meantime the guy in front had decided to stop again without cause and she clattered into the back of him. No dents, no broken plastic just an exchange of paints. Three weeks later she got the same letter as you.

Makes you sick but when you hit somebody from behind you don`t have a leg to stand on.


Rich

 

[SOAR]

I have had the same happen to me so I know how angry you are, my crash was the same as yours, my fault in traffic and going about 15 miles an hour no damage to mine hardly any to the other guys, which was a taxi, 2 months down the line 3 letters come through the post claiming against me then another all in all they claimed that there was 4 people in his car at the time of the bump when in reality there was only 2.

 

[sam_acw]

Probably makes it worth carrying a camera in the glove box. A cheap disposable one.

90% of the time though, unless you happen to hit a real "expert" your reaction to the crash can control what happens. You should never admit fault or apologise - I've seen someone avoid all blame for an identical type of accident at a round about. Simply got out the car and said "why did you reverse into me?"

 

[Mesquite]

Wouldn`t he need a hospital report to back up his injury claims, if the shunt was as minor as you say then surely they would`ve have discharged him 100% okay.

You would have thought so but the letter goes further ton to say 'We will be instructing Medico-Legal reporting agency mto obtain a medical report on our client's injuries. The medico-Legal agency will liase with you directly to agree the expert to be instructed. It is not our intention to obtain GP or Hospital notes.... To me that translates that he never even attend either of them so there won't be any notes

Probably makes it worth carrying a camera in the glove box. A cheap disposable one.

I had my mobile phone on me but it was monsooning down with rain at the time traffic was trying to get passed so I never took any pics I know I should have but it's something easy to forget in the rush of trying to get on with your journey. Plus pics wouldn't have stopped him saying he's got 'whiplash' due to the impact of the accident.

 

[Toddy]

Sit down with a cup of coffee and relax.
Then find a pad of paper and write the whole incident down, exactly as it happened, include the conversation and the weather conditions.

Send this to your insurers and tell them he's trying it on. No doctor or hospital notes ? Aye right, he was so hurt wasn't he ?

I hate creeps like this, they end up costing all of us in raised premiums so they can chance their arm for a couple of grand.

Time folks turned round and said, "Well, actually, no. We're not going to pay out."


Sorry you're going through this.

atb,
Toddy

 

[Rhoda]

I completely agree with Toddy, write a letter describing what happened and refuse to accept responsibilty for any 'injuries' he may have sustained. My mum had the same thing happen to her a while ago. Someone actually pulled out in front of her causing her to hit him. He then said that he had been in the oncoming lane, she was asleep at the wheel and drifted into his lane!! Wanted to sue her for injuries, and claimed his car was a write off. People really should not be allowed to get away with this sort of thing.
Putting her foot down and arguing the case caused my poor mum a lot of stress but she didn't give in and in the end the guy got nothing.

 

[SimonM]

Its very common, sadly. One of the ways that I paid my way through uni and teaching practice was by working for a solicitor doing "Accident investigation".

One of my techniques was to invite the injured party in for an informal chat to discuus waht happened. Once in the office I would make them a drink and place it on the floor next to their seat. You tell tell alot about people by how they stoop to get that drink and of course it was all observed and recorded.

If we had any doubt at all we always refereed to a doctor for a second opinion. At that point a lot of people back ou of the claim.

I really do feel for you tho, as it is annoying when you have to deal with this personally.

Simon

 

[Mike Ameling]

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. I have friends who have. Such ... parasites ... of society need to be removed from contact with normal people - just like picking off ticks and squishing them.

There are no ... consequences ... for him to sue you without good cause. He is not paying anything to sue you. His "lawyer" will have taken the case on "contingency" (I think that's the word). The lawyer won't charge him anything, but will take his "fee" as a percentage of any final settlement - with two percentage rates: one if settled before court and a much higher percentage if it goes to court.

So this is ... free money ... to him, and "easy free money" to his lawyer. Especially when most insurance companies will ... settle ... rather than fight it - because it is cheaper to settle than to fight it. And that is because your insurance company can only recover their costs to fight this claim by then counter-sueing him for costs incurred.

So the ... lawyer ... takes a "gamble" by filing the suit. And it only cost the lawyer if it goes to court and gets judged against him. The courts don't award "legal fees" to the other party in cases like this.

A simple change of the laws to award "legal fees" to the party defending against a lawsuit if they win would clear up lots of this problem. If you sue someone and lose, you and your lawyer should automatically have to pay the legal fees of the other person. A potential ... consequence ... of your actions. So it is viewed as "free money" and "winning the lawsuit lottery".

Plus that old oft used phrase --- the insurance companies pay for it anyway.

No, the people paying for insurance pay for it. And if you don't have insurance that covers it, they YOU pay for it. A number of courts here in the U S have explicitly BANNED any and all metion/discussion/questions about WHO will pay for any award a jury might think about deciding. The judges always say it is to stop the jury from raising the award amount because "the insurance company will pay it anyway". But a few will privately say that it is to stop the jury from feeling sorry for the person being sued, and lowering the amount accordingly.

Some sort of "consequences" for bringing and losing a lawsuit needs to be added back into the whole legal process - other than filing a counter-suit to recover the costs of defending against the original lawsuit (plus current costs also).

A lot of people have now decided that they can "make a living" off of filing lawsuits - just like those who have decided they can and will "make a living" off of welfare and public support. Every few years they ... create ... another little incident, and then live off of the "settlement" - playing that ----> lawsuit lottery.

Just my humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[sam_acw]

How hard is whiplash to prove? I know that "back pain" is a favourite of this type as it is almost impossible to categorise or define.
In any case like this it is probably worth seeing about getting yourself represented. Find out who knows about this thing, how much it costs etc. Something about this does smell like a regular claimant.
Good luck.

 

[woodstock]

With the spelling mistakes you mentioned sounds to me he is trying it on a african lady ran into the back of me at a petrol station then tried to say I had reversed into her causing her to injure her neck when I pointed out that whiplash usually takes hours for the symptoms appear and the fact she had a tax disk that was about 3 months out of date I said I think we should phone the police she drove of at high speed ...bloody chancers

 

[AJB]

Hey, sorry to hear that mate. The year before last I was crashed into 11 – YES 11 times in a year! None my fault but it was a year of nauseating admin and stress and a few tried it on so I kind of know how you feel.

Toddy is right as is everyone else, tell the truth and take a hard line and let the lawyers thrash it out. But having just done jury duty and seen how the smallest technical error can destroy a case, it might be worth ignoring the incorrect name for a bit – just a thought.

Tough luck and I hope it works itself out, but what I learnt is - always ring the police, always take pictures and always try to get a signature on a brief statement of facts at the scene – over kill I know but it can save you a load of grief!

 

[Dougster]

How hard is whiplash to prove?

Flu like symptoms...

I used to work in a claims dept, I couldn't countenance myself with it unless a 'Maxillo Facial' report was required (details of the rebuild).

Precedent has been set to pay a small amount (it will likely be only hundreds) but the insurance company won't care because you will pay half in your excess.

It's a sad and very irritating set of affairs and the fact you can do very little about it makes it more so.

My best to you.

 

[Grooveski]

Was at the other end of a dunt like that about a year ago. A triviality - momentary lapse of concentration in trickling traffic.
The guy was distraught, leapt out of the car and ran over to where I was parking up as though my car was in flames and he was going to pull me out of it, apologising non-stop.

As I was getting out he was going on about what a mess he'd made of my bumper. I had to explain that I'd reversed into a rock at a car park and it was aready like that.
After a couple of jokes about what's the point of having bumpers if you're not going to use them and one where I pointed at the scars on my roof(rolled the car once - oops) and exclaimed in mock horror that he'd wrecked my car he chilled out a bit. When he started going on about swapping details my initial reaction was "What for?".

It was so far removed from the only time I've done it. Nudged a car at about 2mph on the bike and although the bumper didn't have a mark on it a bunch of wee plastic tabs designed to give...
...gave, and the whole bumper fell off the back of the car.
Thankfully one of my workmates was behind me in the works van because the woman was highly irate, claimed for new plasticwork with crazy labour charges(and for lighting units that didn't get damaged), could easily have seen her having a go.

Hope it all works out alright and comes to nothing.

 

[firecrest]

perhaps you should seek legal advice, its possible a loophole exists in that the letter technically isnt addressed to you because he gave the wrong name. Also, he does need an independant medical review, and do you have any wittnesses that saw him get out of the car fine? If you can write a letter to the person representing him, they may drop him, the personal injury lawers rely on insurance companies paying up without going to court and its fairly possible that at a wiff of contraversey, they wont bother with his case.

 

[ganstey]

If you're in the RAC or AA or similar, then I'm pretty sure that they have a free legal advice line for members. Might be worth giving them a call exactly where you stand in the eyes of the law.

G

 

[MikeE]

Been there, done that at 5mph! Even got a summons from the courts in Birmingham of all places (considering both parties lived in Essex). Sent the letter to my insurers to sort since that's who it should have gone to anyway! Claiming over £1600 in medical bills even though the 4 paramedics!! (including those from the air ambulance!) were shaking there heads with the young lady. Of course she was driving her mum's car and guess what......................... her mum's a solicitor!!!! Seemed fine for the 1/2 hr she was animatedly on the phone to some-one. I wonder who??????????????????? Never found out what happened as I had protected no-claims anyway, thank gawd!

 

[maddave]

It's a bad state of affairs. I always have my mobile phone which takes pictures, videos and voice memo's. So if owt like that happens I can photograph the scene and if the other party admits guilt I can get it on video. That way when they go back and change a story or "Big it up" you have proof. Example..A friend recently got knocked off his motorbike and there was a guy there with a digital camera. The driver was at fault and all the pics backed this up. When the police arrived this dude started kicking off saying my mate was reckless etc.. The dude with the camera simply gave the copper his memory card and address and asked for the card back when finished with. It went to court and the dude who pulled out on my mate got charged with dangerous driving plus £750 court costs because of the camera evidence. NEVER take anyone at their word... Unfortunately it means Jack S**t to a lot of people these days

 

[Joonsy]

Hi, your summons addressed wrongly and in wrong name may make it possible for it to be thrown out of court on a technicality, i know this happens in criminal courts but not sure how it applies to civil courts, whatever you do keep hold of the summons and do not send it back to sender, meanwhile keep quiet about it so they cannot correct their mistake and seek legal advice, when you appear in court all the details on summons must be absolutely correct otherwise the case can get dismissed on a technicality (for example when you asked if your name is ''Keith'' and you reply ''no it is Steve'' then that may be the end of the case and you'll be free to go), i repeat check that this applies to civil courts in the same way as criminal courts. ----- I sympathise with your situation and have had simlar experience, i hate how these days the ''''the squeeky wheel gets all the oil'''' if you know what i mean. Best of luck.

 

[Mesquite]

Thanks for all the support folks.

I know in hindsight I should have taken pics but as I said I just wanted to get on with my journey. I've now spoken to my insurance company and they said send them a copy of the letter and they'll deal with it and in the emantime write to the other people telling them that and tell them to write to my insurers in future and stop bugging me.

No doubt I'll be hearing more from my insurers re statements etc and a final bill for £250 for my excess. It just bugs me that I, and more than likely everyone on here, wouldn't dream of pulling a scam like this. Mind you, considering the kind of people I deal with on a daily basis maybe I should have realised something like this would come along.