Claiming for Car Crash

Ladjacket

Was in a car crash few weeks ago, a group of us were in a minibus taxi on a night out, when the bus was hit by a car. It has transpired that the car was being driven by a 16 year old who had stolen his mothers car, and was drunk into the bargain. From what I know he is getting a caution by the guards. for it.

Four of the people involved sustained injuries which are still ongoing, sore backs, necks legs etc. They are out expenses in terms of A&E, Doctor appointments etc. These people are going to make a claim. The guy dealing with it has been asking if the others in the bus are claiming and thinks that we should. I am uneasy about this though, if I wasnt injured, its not right to claim.

However the kicker is that the young lad has been posting stuff on the internet and facebook in particular about the incident, basically showing no remorse at all about it, a sample would be where one of his scummy little mates said that they should go out this weekend and get drunk, steal a car and crash into a bus to which the driver thought this was hilarious. Due to this, part of me would love to claim to get some sort of pleasure from this. I know that is not the right approach but it sickens me to see this young lad behave like this.

Any advice or comments?

jaspertheghost

if theres nothing wrong with you dont sue...your lucky to be still alive...this little maggot will get whats coming to him....if you sue then you wont be able to sue him as he's only 16 it'll be his mother that has to cough up .......

Ladjacket

don't get me wrong, I am thankful that there was no one seriously injured, and as I have said I would feel uneasy about claiming - the solicitor dealing with it has advised that even if you are not injured,you should still claim for emotional damage - which I am not entirely sure about!

On the issue of his mother paying for it, she has taken to facebook as well to make comments on her son's status' - it seems to be a very strange set up. One of those dysfunctional young lads, never at school, always drinking etc.

As for getting whats coming to him - does a caution do that? What happens the next time he fancies a joyride and ends up killing?

thebiglad

If you did not feel injured at time of collision then presumably you did not attend A&E or GP etc - you will have great difficulty to introduce a claim after a few weeks.

The courts take a firmer line now on spurious and exagerated claims.

As previous poster said he will be dealt with by the Garda for his driving and probably the postings are just bravado.

Unless you are injured don't bring an injury claim - you are not affecting him by doing so anyhow.

ResearchWill

If you have suffered an injury and or loss sue otherwise don't. In any case it will be an insurance company that pays either his mothers policy or the MIBI, depending on the facts, in any case if it is MIBI it will more than likely be the insurance company on the car that is nominated.

Ladjacket

I got checked over by paramedic at the scene who advised if I felt sore to go to GP the next day etc. I have a stiff neck and back is slightly sore on an odd occasion, but nothing out of the way if I am being honest.

I do not think I will proceed to make any claim but just looking for any one who may have experience of a similar situation.

MagicMarker

Ladjacket wrote: »

I got checked over by paramedic at the scene who advised if I felt sore to go to GP the next day etc. I have a stiff neck and back is slightly sore on an odd occasion, but nothing out of the way if I am being honest.

I do not think I will proceed to make any claim but just looking for any one who may have experience of a similar situation.

You need to make sure you're not injured, you may feel okay now but whiplash type injuries can creep up on you.

I say, go to the doctor, get whatever checkup/scans are necessary to ensure you're not injured and just make a claim for the expenses.

Wudyaquit

Ladjacket wrote: »

I got checked over by paramedic at the scene who advised if I felt sore to go to GP the next day etc. I have a stiff neck and back is slightly sore on an odd occasion, but nothing out of the way if I am being honest.

I do not think I will proceed to make any claim but just looking for any one who may have experience of a similar situation.

If you're feeling ok,don't claim - any judge with half an ounce of cop-on won't give a cent for emotional damage anyway.

Your solicitor sounds like a real keeper. He's a scumbag who wants you to claim because he's nothing to lose and who'll get his fee even if you're just awarded a tenner.

Your suing the teenager has no negative impact on him or his mother, whatsoever. Her no claims bonus will be gone on the other claims anyway, if her insurance has to cover the costs. If not, as has been said, it will be paid for by MIBI, so you're not teaching the kid a lesson at all.

Ladjacket

thanks for the responses - just confirming what I would have been thinking. Just to clarify, the guy is not my solicitor, just some legal beak 'offering' advice.

Thanks

Seamu$

Ladjacket wrote: »

From what I know he is getting a caution by the guards. for it.

To me, this seems to be the problem. It's a pretty serious series of events - taking a car without permission, driving it while drunk, and crashing into a bus load of people which could have caused multiple fatalities. I would have thought that merits more than a caution! How do the authorities expect this guy to learn from this experience if they let him go with a slap on the wrists?! The message they seem to be sending out is "you didn't happen to kill anyone this time so that's grand, carry on"!!!

I don't think further unnecessary claims off his mothers insurance are going to teach him any lessons about the issue. I'd be pressing the guards to take more action on it with a view to preventing him causing road fatalities in future.

Paulw

Surely you would be making a claim against the taxi driver's insurance, and his insurance would be making a claim against the 16yr old driver?

jaspertheghost

As for getting whats coming to him - does a caution do that? What happens the next time he fancies a joyride and ends up killing?[/QUOTE]

what i meant was that scumbags like this have 2 general places that they`ll end up at a young age....jail or the grave...and as for the cops...shur all they`ll do is slap him on the wrist our legal system is a joke and plus we have no room in prisons what with all those criminals who are in there who have not paid there fines or there loans....its feckin laughable

Ladjacket

From what I know the parents insurance company are accepting responsibilty so would be claiming off them.

Would be highly critical of the law in the state in this instance - just because he is 16 doesnt mean he didnt know what he was doing was not right. If he flouted the law by doing adult things such as smoking, drinking and driving, then he should be treated as an adult.

MagicSean

This story was posted by another user not too long ago I think. You should report that man to the Gardaí, law society and insurance company. False claims affect us all and it's the driver of your vehicle who will suffer the most as you will be claiming from him. That fella who is giving you "advice" is a big part of what is wrong with the legal profession.

Ladjacket

MagicSean wrote: »

This story was posted by another user not too long ago I think. You should report that man to the Gardaí, law society and insurance company. False claims affect us all and it's the driver of your vehicle who will suffer the most as you will be claiming from him. That fella who is giving you "advice" is a big part of what is wrong with the legal profession.

this exact story?! I doubt it - I am against claiming at this stage but some people are being told that the taxi we were on insurance will not be affected and it will be the kids parents insurance company who will be.

daenerysstormborn3

Unless you have vouchers for your medical treatment and you did in fact seek medical treatment then I would advise against claiming. Another poster is correct, Judges are starting to take a very dim view on exaggerated claims, so much so that you could end up in a far worse financial situation than if you decided not to claim.

I understand you are annoyed and probably angry at this young lad and yes, because of his age, he probably will get off relatively lightly but unfortunately you making a claim certainly isn't going to change the punishment handed down to him.

Unfortunately the person offering advice to you to claim probably isn't the best person to be dealing with the genuine claims of the people you were travelling with as he doesn't seem to have a firm grasp of the law.

Procrastastudy

The damages in these types of cases are not there to punish the offender. They are there to put you back in the position you were in before the accident. If you've suffered no damage then then you don't need any compensation. The purpose is to distribute loss - all you ever end up doing is claiming off some insurence company at some point. Ultimately we all pay - you, me even him if he ever actually gets a legal car.

Even if you did get a judgement against him - how is is going to pay you? He'll just ignore it much like a caution. You'd be better off looking to see if there is anyway of launching a private prosecution against him in the criminal courts if you want him punished and have money to burn.

He'll get his come-upance. Sad thing is he's probably got clueless knackers for parents and will have an unhappy crappy life because of it.

MagicSean

Ladjacket wrote: »

this exact story?! I doubt it - I am against claiming at this stage but some people are being told that the taxi we were on insurance will not be affected and it will be the kids parents insurance company who will be.

You doubt it? Seems pretty similar. Even the name of the poster.

Ladjacket wrote: »

Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong place.

Was in a car accident last night, a bus I was in was hit by a car whose driver was uninsured, 16 and failed a breathalyser test. i know him to see and after i returned home after being checked out at hospital, I logged on facebook to see that he had been on basically making light of the thing and that he is not too worried because a guard told him he should just get a caution!

He toyed with the lives of 9 people and is just gonna get a caution? does this sound right?!

Ladjacket

MagicSean wrote: »

You doubt it? Seems pretty similar. Even the name of the poster.

Apologies MagicSean - I thought you meant that another user had the same story as opposed to something I had posted previously.

Sorry for the error.