Insurance claims

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Tue 12 Aug 2008 19:22
Insurance claims - deepwater330
My son was involved in a (relatively minor) incident but which involved a personal injury claim from a pedestrian who simply ran out from between cars in a dark garage forecourt. In our view the pedestrian?s behaviour was absolutely reckless, whilst the most important thing is that the outcome was a 2mph bump by the car which knocked him over in the process, but with no reported injury at the time.

Our insurer has decided to settle this because they say that where a pedestrian is involved the court invariably decides in their favour. We accept that our insurer has the right under contract to make this decision but we claim it is driven by financial expedience rather than justice.

I am interested to pursue this further which is probably pointless I know, but at this time we don?t even know what has been claimed by the other party. Our insurer will not release the file, presumably hiding behind the data protection act. As a directly involved party can we oblige the insurer to release the file? It seems very unjust that my son stands accused yet knows nothing of the allegations against him by the other party.

There is no driving offence issue under process with this, merely the personal injury claim and what we consider to be an unwarranted blemish against my son?s driving record
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Tue 12 Aug 2008 19:46
Insurance claims - deepwith
Is this going to be a new scam, like sudden braking as described in an earlier post?
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Tue 12 Aug 2008 19:52
Insurance claims - geoff1248
It seems that your insurers are settling as the quickest/easiest way to resolve this. They do not seem to be interested in the right or wrongs of the incident. See if the settlement will effect your NCB or if they are willing to put into a letter that you are in no way to blame for this incident. By settling in such a manner they are actually saying that you are partially to blame...are you?
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Tue 12 Aug 2008 20:12
Insurance claims - CGNorwich
In practice what your Insurers say is correct. If a car hits a pedestrian its is extremely difficult to prove that the car driver was not negligent. The fact that the pedestrian was not looking where he was going is not sufficient. The car driver should have seen him. Unless there is a witness to provide evidence that the pedestrian literally jumped in front of the car I would hold little hope of success. Tough, but thats how it is I'm afraid.

Edited by CGNorwich on 12/08/2008 at 20:13

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