Clever Legal People ? Question re Small claims/ VDS / VET negligence.

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treacle86

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How is everyone this evening ?? lol .
Il try and keep this short ish !!

I have corresponded with the vet who vetted horse for me 18 months ago ?who i believe was negligent , they refunded me for vetting , and discussed details , horse was borderling , seen a nod, 1/10 lame etc etc , have this on my answer phone tape by accident , vets know this .

I have been dealing with the Veterinary defence society for the last year re this matter , they have been told all aspects of complaint , provided them with countless vets reports , as documentary evidence , they had asked to have horse examined a long time ago and we said yes that would be great,they have never done this up to now .

and now they refuse to do so , i have had solicitors write to them , I have had a representative from a national newspaper contact VDS and they gave him all nice story saying they will correspond with me an dtry and reach positive resolve !!

and since saying that they have since wrote to me goading me to sue them , start court proceedings etc etc!!!

So im very frustrated to say the least !!!

I am seeking a few thousand from The VDS , the amount of costs and loss i incurred on the horse .

So have just issued a a small claims action against the VDS .

i dont know if i am correct to instigate it against the VDS ?????????

Or should i issue small claim against the original vet ????

or am i correct to issue small claims to VDS as they are the vets indemnity insurer and would be who is liable to pay my costs ???

or should i issue small claims to vet AND VDS ??????

sorry if this was too long and complex !!!!

any help be appreciated !!!


thanks xxxxxx
 
Pretty sure you issue the claim against the vet. They will pass it on to the VDS who should then take it up. You can prove you have been trying to deal with this through their system for x amount of time when it gets to court.
 
Am a bit slow on the uptake here but did the horse go wrong after it had 'passed' a vetting? What is your actual issue?

Or if you knew there was a problem why did you buy the horse?
confused.gif
 
Thanks guys , Just trying to get some advice before I can speak with court / solicitor on monday .

Tictac: sorry it is not very clear .

The horse did "pass " Vetting , but was almost immediatley lame on arrival , had remedial shoes on !!! etc . on contacting the vetting vet , he said horse maybe was borderline , flexion / lunging etc he thought he had seen a nod , maybe 1/10 lame etc etc , i was horrified at this !!! this was on the telephone , and as i said earlier some parts were recorded by my answer phone !!!

so was now the owner of a horse who was lame and shouldnt have passed vetting !!!!! cue months of hassle , vets bills, reports , insurance, livery etc etc .

and the vet just fobbed me off and directed me to the disgusting VDS !!!!!

raaaaaaaggggghhhh !! rant over ! xxxxxx
 
What did you do stinkipinki ???? who did you try and claim through ??? feel free to pm all the gory details if ud prefer !!!desperate for any knowledge i can get .

what was your problems ? i feel like i should be successful at court stage as i have so much evidence that vet was in wrong ???
also rec letter from vet and vds legal representative today , that i have just read and they seem a litte angry / wary possibly ??? are warning me not to continue with court actions ??? after they have been goading me to do so for past few weeks ???? bizarre , can only hope i am successful . xxxx
 
You should have issued directly against the Vet as that is who the defendant is. Is the VDS acting as insurer in this case? If not the vet should have passed this to their professional indemnity insurer and they should deal with it. When the time comes and proceedings are issued, solicitors are usually nominated to deal with the court claim.

Ultimately it is not the VDS who owe you damages but the original vet - if he was negligent.

Probably best to get legal advice promptly from a solicitor who is either knowledgeable in vet neg, or at least professional negligence to try before your costs escalate as well as the defendants
 
its a tough one. i challenged a vet, the battle lasted near on 2 years. i did win.

my biggest bit of advise is use an equine solicitor, so they know exactley what yr talking about.

good luck.
 
thanks everyone !!

Has anyone been successful against a vet ??? with the VDS on their side all the time !!!! grrrr ,

has anyone been successful with a small claims action against vet / VDS ?????

any stories appreciated .

xxx
 
I got £1500 from the VDS after the vetting vet missed a sarcoid that i spotted a couple of days later. it was all very easy. complained to vet, they passed it onto VDS who contacted me for evidence, sent it to them, offered me £500, told them that was ridiculous so they offered £1500 and I accepted - covered price of vetting, treatment and something towards loss of value of horse. dont know if it made a difference that i'm a vet myself.
 
thanks for that , just trying to get a few tales to compare , yours sounds very straight forward and simple !!! i wish that would happen with me !!! grrr .
i have provided them with countless pieces of evidence , vets reports etc , but they have never had the horse examined again altho they said they would and keep changing goalposts !!!
 
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