Hi all, I’m new here hope I’m in the right place, I’ll try keep it as short as can be.

My partner had a car crash in April 2007 he pulled out from a stationary position and collided with a moving car our insurance company said he should admit fault which he did as it was his fault and they’d pay out for the other car.

Days after the crash my partner received two letters one from his insurance companies solicitor asking that any correspondence from the other guys insurance company/solicitor sent to us should be sent straight to them, the second letter came from the other guys personal solicitor which we forwarded straight to our insurance companies solicitor as requested

Some time later a phone call from our insurance said all is sorted.

Assuming all was ok we heard nothing from any side until January 2008 when court papers came through the door the other guy had taken us to court for cost to his car, loss of earnings and a hire car. We had 14 days to send papers back to the court, rang our insurance company the same day and they said payment had been made to the guys solicitor in December 2007 the claim was closed but a week later reopened as the guy wanted more money and asked us to send the court papers to them recorded delivery that same day which we did as they had already made the payment (never had court papers before assumed this was ok to do).

A week after this our insurance company rang us and said all had been sorted. Three weeks ago my partner received a CCJ in the post for default of £793.30 he rang the court which issued this and was told that he should of sent the court papers back to them its his responsibility and the amount on the CCJ is still outstanding. We rang the insurance company who said they’d paid £563.73 which was the original total. We sent them a copy of the CCJ and they said they’d pay the rest then claim it back from the solicitor so that the CCJ could be removed from my partners record as it would be paid by the 25th of this month, after many phone calls to our insurance company the balance was Nil as of the 12th of this month and they were awaiting written conformation from the solicitor that the payment had been paid in full.

Rang the courts and they say the balance is still outstanding so rang the other guys solicitor and was told the payment had been made in full on the 12th of this month and they’d send a letter of conformation to the court and the CCJ would be removed before the 25th of this month. My insurance rang the solicitor on the 18th and was told they hadn’t sent the confirmation to the court as of yet because there was no-one in the office until April that dealt with letters and accounts after a day of phone calls and arguments between our insurance my partner and the other guys solicitor the result was the letter will be sent that afternoon.

Still waiting to hear if the letter has been sent as it’s the holiday period and its taken 3 weeks just to get slight progress my partner is left with a CCJ that he should never have received in the first place as the payment had been paid in December 2007 the other guys solicitor was and then stopped dealing with the insurance company and took my partner to court instead. What do we do now, Who’s at fault over this mess, Why did it go to court if the payment had been paid and where do I go from here as the 25th is only days away do we face 6 years with bad credit for a CCJ that should never of been issued in the first place. The insurance company wont send us proof of payment as its not there policy to do so they are also blaming the solicitor for taking it to court and not stopping proceedings even after the payment had been made. So sorry for this being so long we’re so worried and need some advice ASAP. thanks in advance for any advice given.

It would seem from what you say that your insurance company caused this by delaying payment. Obviously the solicitor for the other party had given them plenty of time and it didn't materialise so they sued the only other party in this, your partner.

I would be getting onto your own insurance to sort this out and by letter and not phone unless you can record the calls.

Drop a line to the solicitor and ask him has he received the payment yet and if so on what date.

Hi thanks for the reply, my partner has contacted the guys solicitor and they said full payment was made on the 12th of this month the outstanding balance is now nil.

So now it's time to ask your insurance co why it took so long to pay and what are they going to do about the ccj.

Hi our insurance company said it was the solicitor he wouldnt/didnt return any calls regarding the total amout and thats why they never paid this was said days after the court papers. As for the CCJ our insurance company said its upto the solicitor to send proof of payment to the courts to have it removed but the end date for that is tomorrow. we cant even send proof of payment as our insurance wont provid this surly it would take only five minutes to print off the proof and post it to us so thats we could forward it to the courts but even that seems too hard for them to do.

I think you have cause to complain to the Law Society.