Mr Erol is awarded compensation of £1328.62 following a 2 year battle

Accident circumstances

The claimant was parked in the car park area on Medway Close. He then drove out of the car park and stopped to put his seat belt on next to the lamp post. This is when the client said that the accident occurred. Mr E said that that the defendant reversed into his car at speed. The Claimant said that the defendant attempted to take a right turn into the car park that he had just left but there was another car coming out of the car park so the defendant reversed to give way to the car. In the process of reversing she collided into the rear of Mr E’s parked car. The accident details were exchanged. Mr Erol decided to pursue a claim for personal injury compensation and he chose Clearwater Solicitors to deal with it.

The Defendant’s position

An engineer was instructed to look at the damageon Mr E’s vehicle after the road traffic accident and to give a valuation on the cost of getting it repaired. The engineer valued the damage on the vehicle at £557.42. He also stated that the damage on the vehicle was consistent with the accident circumstances. Liability was disputed by the third party insurers. They stated that they were awaiting an independent witness statement before they could comment on liability. They stated that it was in fact Mr E who reversed into their insured’s vehicle whilst she was stationary. Mr E’s insurers offered the third party a 50/50 split on liability but this was rejected. A DVLA search was undertaken on the vehicle the defendant was driving and they registered owner of the car was a different person. The third party insurers were contacted to confirm that the driver of the vehicle was insured. They confirmed that she was.

How we resolved the case

At the beginning of the case it seemed much more straight forward than it actually was. The case was transferred to Mr Yaqub head of Clearwater Solicitors litigation team.

–        He advised Mr E that he should put forward a part 36 offer to the third party on a 50/50 split liability basis. Mr E agreed to this.

–        This was rejected by the third party because they totally disputed Mr E’s version of events. The third parties client claimed that she came to a stop to allow someone out of the car park and that point she claimed that Mr E reversed into her got out of the car admitted fault to her and then swapped details.

–        The third party insurers advised that they had an independent witness who was a pedestrian and was willing to attend court. Mr Yaqub requested the details of the witness but the third party refused to provide them due to the data protection act.

–        The witness statement was however forwarded to Mr Yaqub and it supported the third party’s claim.

–        The case was transferred to Mr Ahmed from Clearwater Solicitors who specialises in disputed cases. He believed that the witness was not independent or credible because he refused to co-operate.

–        Mr Ahmed emailed the third party insurers to advise that the witness was not responding and he asked them to confirm liability for the claim.

–        No response came from the third party so Mr Ahmed spoke with Mr Yaqub and they agreed to put forward a part 36 offer to the third party because they now believed that they had less than 50% prospects on winning the case. The part 36 offer they submitted was for split 50/50 liability.

–        The third party however did accept this offer.

–        Because liability had been settled Mr Ahmed requested payment to be released for Mr E’s car damage so he could get it repaired.

–        Mr E received a cheque for £278.62. This was less than quoted by the engineer for the damages. Mr E received half of the settled amount due to the 50/50 split liability offer.

–        Mr E went for his medical appointment to have his injuries assessed and it was sent to the third party. They had 21 days to respond with offers for the personal injury claim. This did not happen so court proceedings were issued.

–        After proceedings were issued the third party insurers transferred their file to their personal injury solicitors. The solicitors reviewed the file and came back with an offer of £1800. Mr E would only receive half of this. Mr Ahmed recommended to his client that the offer should be rejected. Mr Ahmed valued the personal injury case at £2000-£2300.

–        The third party solicitors came back with another offer of £2000. Mr Ahmed negotiated with the third party solicitors and they agreed on the sum of £2100.

Mr E agreed to this and he received the sum of £1328.62 for his roadtraffic accident claim.

How can Clearwater Solicitors help you?

Clearwater Solicitors is experienced in handling car accident claims where liability is disputed and claims where the third party will not disclose information. If you think you have a case or require further information contact Clearwater on 08000 430 430 or fill in the online call back request.