Accident Exchange - letters after 9 years ??

[SuperVillain]

I bet there's some paperwork from PCJ Solicitors knocking about somewhere... And also do you remember if the other side were insured with AXA?

 

If we're talking about reviving old claims this could be the reason - the link I posted here might not work so... an excerpt:

 

"Credit hire operator Accident Exchange is set on pursuing its legal challenge of cases involving evidence from now-defunct Autofocus that it exaggerated costs, after accusing Axa and its lawyers of complicity – a charge Axa denies.

 

The CHO has reached settlements with more than 50 insurers since December 2011 when it won appeals on four test cases where Autofocus evidence had been used by insurers to show credit hire rates provided by the CHO were too high.

 

However, it has continued to take other individual cases to the Court of Appeal, including those involving Axa, in order to renegotiate rates."

[SuperVillain]

Looks like the solicitors dealing with your wife's injury claim didn't pursue the hire charges at the same time. Normally its because they don't know about them, as claimant's usually forget that they're ultimately liable for credit hire charges and so don't notify their solicitors that they also have this loss to pursue.

 

However its quite clear from your post above - "Although we passed the hire charges onto this second firm, they were still not included... If they were aware of the hire charges but took no action to include them, then they will have prejudiced recovery of the hire charges. Should this be the case, then we will be seeking to recover the balance of hire from the solicitors rather than you directly. "

 

AE want to see the solicitors' file to determine if your solicitors messed up or if you/your wife ever told them not to include the hire charges. For the former they'll try and pursue the solicitors for the latter they will try and pursue you/your wife.

 

I'm guessing the Defendant's solicitors have already told them to politely go away as the payment for the injury (if they're good) would have specified it was in full and final settlement of all claims arising from the incident. I would do this (and have on many occasions).

[SuperVillain]

If they can't obtain your consent, then they are a bit stuck. I can't see them going to court and requesting that a ruling that allows them access to your Solicitors files. I don't know what process this would be.

 

I reckon it depends on the sums they've missed out on.

 

It's probably more than a £500 claim for a couple of weeks hire of a Ford Focus if they're writing to you after all this time.

 

If on the other end of the scale we're talking say 60 days hire of a Mercedes CLK or Porsche Cayenne; AE might go the extra mile to get some or all of their £15,000 or so hire charges back...

 

Maybe the OP can shed some light on how much the hire charges were roughly? Probably give us a clue on how hard AE might pursue this...

[SuperVillain]

lol smack in the middle of my two examples...

 

I'd be inclined to agree with Unclebulgaria's suggestion of writing back with the SB letter and see if they give up.

[SuperVillain]

Ahhh the perils of credit hire. Tis a murky business...

[SuperVillain]

You've also then got the Consumer Credit Act issues depending on how old the agreement is.

[SuperVillain]

If the solicitors had the hire invoice and simply forgot to include it in the court claim then they have been negligent.

 

And the OP did state earlier that AE said they notified the solicitors about the credit hire claim but it wasn't included in proceedings...

[SuperVillain]

If the cause of action is negligence then the pricipal of latent damage could apply so the cause of action would run from when the negligence was discovered. I think they have 3 years from the discovery or date when they ought to have discovered the negligence... And there's an absolute 15 year long stop on any claims.