smalk claims-do i have a case?

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clait

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after the accident with my cheval trailer i have a list of costs, trailer hire while thay fixed mine(six weeks) loss of entry fees, new travel boot( mine where riped to bits when the horse went through the floor, paying someone to come and get me and horse and take us home, vets, back lady ect...i only had public liability and personal accident insurance with the british horse society, phoned them today and thay cant help,cheval do not want to no. do you think i have a claim in the small claims court?
 
In that case I would go to a solicitor and seek their advice. It sounds as though there is a fair chance that the claim will exceed the £5000 limit on the small claims track.

Your household or motor insurance may include legal expenses insurance, but if not plenty of firms would consider a claim on a no win no fee basis. Go to your local high street practice or search the legal 500 website for a recommended firm in your area.
 
If you owned the vehicle from new and the fault can be proved to have existed when manufactured then you would have a case against the manufacturers or suppliers of the new trailer. If the claim is over £5,000 then you will need a solicitor but if under you could go through the small claims court which you can do online.
 
You might well have a claim for the direct out of pocket stuff to do with the trailer damage and recovery , which is most of the things you mentioned, esp if they knew of the problem prior to your accident.

Much less likely on whats called 'consequential loss', things like entry fees etc. Some direct losses they may fight, or fight the amount of and only try and pay the figure they think it should have cost eg for hire etc.

I would get some legal advice and then set down all the direct costs and send them a recorded delivery letter stating exactly what happened and exactly what you are expecting them to pay for. Give them a timescale eg 14 days to respond, and advise if you dont get satisfaction in those 14 days you will issue legal proceedings.

Normally Im very much anti the 'sue everybody' culture but this case is completely different, its a safety issue and the company need to be made to do the right thing, not only to make good your loss but also to ensure it doesnt happen again.
 
clait said:
thay admit the floor was faulty
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Have they admitted the liability in writing? there is a difference between a chevel mechanic admitting fault and the company itself.

IMHO, the cost of small claims is rarely outweighed by the outcome. You could go through No Win, No Fee lawyers and sue the company for the insufficient quality of their goods and all associated costs, but these cases draw out years! Mine has been 4 years+and still going on. The lawers would need an expert witness to prove the quality of the goods was chevels fault and not your own, i.e. stored incorrectly/over weight etc.

The owness is on you to prove them wrong.

I doubt this would go very far and very much doubt it would see the inside of a court room! how old was the trailer?
 
Been to some no win no fee people,dont want to know because i wasnt injured,anybody know a company that would take this case. Cheval have said it was a manufacturing fault
 
Black_Horse said:
Have they admitted the liability in writing? there is a difference between a chevel mechanic admitting fault and the company itself.

IMHO, the cost of small claims is rarely outweighed by the outcome. You could go through No Win, No Fee lawyers and sue the company for the insufficient quality of their goods and all associated costs, but these cases draw out years! Mine has been 4 years+and still going on. The lawers would need an expert witness to prove the quality of the goods was chevels fault and not your own, i.e. stored incorrectly/over weight etc.

The owness is on you to prove them wrong.

I doubt this would go very far and very much doubt it would see the inside of a court room! how old was the trailer?
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What are your legal qualifications Black_Horse??

As a lawyer who deals with negligence claims myself I cannot advise on the prospects of success of this claim on the information available, so I am intrigued to know what qualifies you to do so.

OP it sounds as though you may well have a case. Take proper qualified legal advice from a specialist firm of solicitors and let them deal with it. Do not enter into further correspondence with Cheval as you could jeapordise any claim you do have. In the meantime make a detailed list of all the related costs you have. It is for Cheval's lawyers to argue whether they are recoverable or not (although you do have a duty to mitigate your losses) just keep an accurate record with any receipts or invoices.
 
3 years old when trailer went in for a new floor i asked them to keep the old one, but they took it back to france with them
 
clait said:
Been to some no win no fee people,dont want to know because i wasnt injured,anybody know a company that would take this case. Cheval have said it was a manufacturing fault
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I wouldn't bother with the no win no fee guys who advertise on TV, they tend to only want a specific type of case, injury claims from RTAs and accidents at work, they reject cases that don't fit into these criteria.

I believe that a firm called Actons have a specific interest in equine related cases so they might be worth a try.

You need to tot up your losses first as firms will reject the case if they think it is likely to be a small claim because they then can't recover their costs, tell them that you have incurred losses already that are in the region of £xxxx. Most claims that don't involve injury are small claims so that could be why you are struggling.

This is a "product liability" case they are a little more specialist. Try Freethcartwright they definitely deal with product liability claims. Irwin Mitchell, Nelsons, or Tollers might also be worth a try.

As an aside have you reported this to trading standards?

And do make sure you keep a copy of the letter in which they admitted it was a manufacturing fault. If it was a phone call then make a note of the date time and the name of the person you spoke to. Tell any solicitors you speak to that Cheval have admitted a manufacturing fault.

Good Luck
 
Katt said:
What are your legal qualifications Black_Horse??

As a lawyer who deals with negligence claims myself I cannot advise on the prospects of success of this claim on the information available, so I am intrigued to know what qualifies you to do so.

OP it sounds as though you may well have a case. Take proper qualified legal advice from a specialist firm of solicitors and let them deal with it. Do not enter into further correspondence with Cheval as you could jeapordise any claim you do have. In the meantime make a detailed list of all the related costs you have. It is for Cheval's lawyers to argue whether they are recoverable or not (although you do have a duty to mitigate your losses) just keep an accurate record with any receipts or invoices.
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did i say i was a lawer? im involved in my own case and the ins and outs of it are rather complicated! it is not as simple as calling a case black and white.

All i was stating was that a case that seems simple will not be that way! My case is going to court and has been for the last 2 years! it takes forever to fill out all the forms, get each sides witnesses to conferr and medical experts to confer.

You dont need to be a lawer to give advice, sometimes first hand experience is also good!
 
If you're a member of the BHS why don't you call their free legal helpline? If you have a case they could probably refer you on to someone.
 
yes trading standards know about this. horse has big lump on fetlock that will never go away, so no more showing. cheval admit there could be more of these trailers out there because of the faulty batch of floors.
 
Black_Horse said:
did i say i was a lawer? im involved in my own case and the ins and outs of it are rather complicated! it is not as simple as calling a case black and white.

All i was stating was that a case that seems simple will not be that way! My case is going to court and has been for the last 2 years! it takes forever to fill out all the forms, get each sides witnesses to conferr and medical experts to confer.

You dont need to be a lawer to give advice, sometimes first hand experience is also good!
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First hand experiences have their place, but you were advising the OP on the legal position and the prospects of her case succeeding, that is a job for a qualified and specialist lawyer with all the facts in front of them. Just the same as I wouldn't try to diagnose the cause of someone's headache because I am not a doctor and can't examine them.

All cases are different and what may be true for one may not be the case for another.

The vast majority of cases settle before they reach court, often before proceedings are even started. When I was doing claimant work we settled 95% of cases in under a year. The ones which go to court are generally the ones which are neither straight forward or clear cut. If the OP has an admission that there was a manufacturing fault in writing then this could be a very straight forward case.

OP seek legal advice, if the firms i mentioned can't help you and you don't have legal expenses insurance on your home or motor insurance, check whether you have it via a union membership. If not ask CAB whether there is a local law centre or student law practice that might be able to help you "pro bono".
 
clait said:
yes trading standards know about this. horse has big lump on fetlock that will never go away, so no more showing. cheval admit there could be more of these trailers out there because of the faulty batch of floors.
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In that case there could be a claim for diminution of value of the horse to add to your out of pocket expenses, although that would be quite difficult to prove.
 
I thought it was hard to claim future value of an animal, without accurate competition records.

Clait,you say the accident happened in your 2003 wooden floored trailer on your way to a hunter trail?If i were you clait, i would stop discussing cheval trailers on a public foruma s discrimatory posts could be used against you in a case!
 
Katt - mines not straight forward as its a PI and industrial suit involving the HSE.

I wasnt trying to profess to be something im not, but i am suprised that cheval admitted liability but are now dragging their heels at paying out.
 
I would love a horse mag to print this story- just to let people know what happens when skimping on insurance eventhough times are hard. some things are just not worth it. that will teach me!
 
clait said:
I would love a horse mag to print this story- just to let people know what happens when skimping on insurance eventhough times are hard. some things are just not worth it. that will teach me!
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I doubt that will happen. You would have to win a liability case against the company and for there to be no 'shut up (cant remember the right name)' clause in the settlement
 
Black_Horse said:
IMHO, the cost of small claims is rarely outweighed by the outcome. You could go through No Win, No Fee lawyers and sue the company for the insufficient quality of their goods and all associated costs, but these cases draw out years!
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My experience, then, is very different from yours! I have been involved in 3 Small Claims cases - one as plaintiff, 1 as defendant, and 1 as an expert witness. All were MINIMAL cost - I certainly didn't use a solicitor for either of mine - and neither did my acquaintance in the case I was a witness at! And all returned a sensible and fair result!

You can launch an action online for minimal cost (about £100) - there is a lot of information online to help you. Chances are they will settle rather than have it go to court. Your claim has to be for less than £5,000 to be dealt with in this way.
 
i have been through small claims and won and got costs too! however yours might be more complicated! you said you had a new floor .. i would queery the fit for purpose route, but i really think you need good legal advice! you also need a horse aware solicitor who knows horses, their terminology and risks values etc. again i would second a public forum is not your best source of info and advice! good luck. it will be lenghthy and expensive! and loads of paperwork and just make sure any witnesses you quote DO have to appear otherwise their testimony is worth nothing.
 
Best to go to a solicitor which deals with personal injury/negligence type claims. If the manufacturer really is admitting liability, it might just be a matter of form filling but its best to use a firm which specialises in this type of work as they will hopefully be able to negotiate an out of court settlement for you if there really is liability on the part of the manufacturer. It would be a hard and complicated case and an awful lot of work to take it as a small claim yourself - you could do so but if you think you have a reasonable chance of winning, then probably best to see a solicitor. Keep all evidence, receipts that you can in the meantime.
 
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