Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

[drakey]

Hiya

Just a bit of background.

I took my sister and her two teenage children into my home when she broke up from their father and they had no where to live. She has a serious history of debt so could get no credit. I lived alone in my five bedroom house. I had contents insurance for £50,000 which hadn't changed since she moved in. Although she hardly brought anything to the house other than clothes and children's possessions I advised she might like to take out her own bedroom insurance which she never did. Late last year there was a major fire at my house while i was out at work. After 6 months restoration the place is now back to its former glory. My insurance covered alternative accommodation and we all stayed in another house. During all the refurbishment work and having received the insurance settlement of £44,500 less my insurance loss assessors 10% I started to try to try to replace everything that had been lost in the fire. It was a 100% smoke damaged claim according to insurance, so as you can imagine the £40,000 I had left had to be spread over 5 bedrooms, 2 receptions rooms, 2 conservatory's, bathroom and kitchen. Not to mention upstairs and downstairs hallways.

I asked my sister for a list of everything she and her children had lost. I then replaced them with new. Some of this came out of my own savings as the insurance hadn't really covered everything I had lost and which i had built up over 30 plus years of hard work. She was not satisfied and demanded an additional £5,000 which I refused. I said once again give me a list of everything I haven't replaced and I will. She didn't or could not do this as I had replaced all her/their clothes, school clothes,beds, desks, toys, laptops, tv's computers/games/hundreds of books etc.

On the day of the move back into my house from the rental property she was obstructive and violent towards the removal contractors, for which i have a written witness statement from the removal company owner who was present himself. She then left with a man she had met online (unknown to me) a few weeks before and took her and the children's possessions to move him with them. Obviously no problem there and in normal circumstances would be delighted for her. However, unbeknown to me, she got a royal mail redirection on the household post. I learned later she used her son's name which is the same initial as my first initial and changed his surname from his father's to mine to wilfully redirect my post. I did notice mail stopped coming for me and complained various times to royal mail. In the meantime, she took a small claim against me for £5,000 for which I had no knowledge until the judgement against me finally arrived! Ironically, after much phone calls and personal visits to the local sorting office to complain, I found out what she had done just in time for the manager to lift the redirection and my first letter was the court judgement for £5,000 against me.

I lodged a complaint with the court. When it finally came to the hearing I asked for it to be set aside because i had no knowledge of the claim against me and therefore no chance to defend myself. The judge said although it was highly unusual as everyone says they didn't get the papers, she would take the highly unusual step of setting judgement aside as I had clear proof of what she had done. However, it is only set aside and has started again.

My question is does she have a claim against my contents insurance although I was the policy holder who paid all the payments on it. She is claiming she is covered as 'my family' and this entitles her to the £5,000 she claims she lost in goods. I have receipts for everything I replaced for her and the children. I also had to replace everything in my house from new.

Does she have a legitimate claim against me, please?

THANK YOU

[Amethyst]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Blimey. What a horrid turn of events for you.

I can't imagine she would have any claim against you, and knew it, hence the mail redirection so you would get default judgment. Glad you got the set aside and presumably now you are working on your defence to her claim.

Did you get a copy of the particulars of claim ?

I would also, as a matter of urgency, check your credit record for any debts she may have taken out using your details.

[enquirer]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Does she have a legitimate claim against me, please?

The fact that you were insured and that her possessions may have been covered, is not of itself enough. Why is she making this claim? What are her grounds for demanding this money from you?

The fire was evidently serious. What was the cause?

[teaboy2]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Also her action in regards to redirecting your mail without your consent may be deemed as interception of your mail and is a criminal offence under the Postal Services Act 2000. You should report this to the police. She may also be found by the court to have committed perjury, for deliberately misleading the court which can lead to a miscarriage of justice or in your case a default judgement being issued against you as you were not aware of the claim as a direct result of her having your mail misdirected. Her actions may also amount to Fraud!

[CleverClogs]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Does she have a legitimate claim against me, please?

No - if she had, would she have buggered about with the mail redirection?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Also her action in regards to redirecting your mail without your consent may be deemed as interception of your mail and is a criminal offence under the Postal Services Act 2000. You should report this to the police. She may also be found by the court to have committed perjury, for deliberately misleading the court which can lead to a miscarriage of justice or in your case a default judgement being issued against you as you were not aware of the claim as a direct result of her having your mail misdirected. Her actions may also amount to Fraud!

But who will take care of her children when she's in gaol?

[teaboy2]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

But who will take care of her children when she's in gaol?

Either their Father, Grand parents, aunties, uncles, family friends or last case scenario social care! Being a parent doesn't mean you have a get out of jail free card! If you can't do the time, don't do the crime, as the saying goes!

[drakey]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Thank you so much for all your replies. They have been very much appreciated.

She claims that she had far more possessions when she asked if she and her two children could move in with me. I obviously could not see them out on the streets because I love them all.

I replaced everything that she and her children lost in the fire. Incidentally, there was a detailed fire report carried out by the insurance company. While the cause was never established by sister told myself and my loss adjuster that early one morning while I was at work she was downstairs and had lit a scented candle and had dashed upstairs to use the loo. She believed she may have occidentally knocked the candle over in her haste to get upstairs and the fire took hold around my large curtains and sofa area of the lounge. Anyway, i had done nothing wrong so the insurance company settled.

Her argument is that I claimed for her possessions and her children's and was reimbursed for them. It was the loss adjuster who listed everything within the household that was fire or smoke damaged. He said as it was a 5 bedroom house with 2 large receptions rooms my contents alone would have easily covered the 44,500 settlement (less his 10%). Regardless of this I replaced ALL their possessions new. What she did not like was that i would not hand over cash to her to do so because she has such an appalling debt history and is reckless with her spending. I did not think she would spend it on her children's laptops, tv's, consoles, games etc and would have frittered it away on herself. Ironically, I had bought all these things for the children previously as their father does not want to know them. With her and the children's clothing I drove them all around the shops she wanted and paid for everything on my card so they wouldn't go without.

Her sole argument is she was covered under my contents insurance and i should have handed the money over to her. I argue that i am the policy holder and had an obligation to make the 44,500 (less 10% for loss adjuster) go as far as possible to re outfit all my rooms as before. Basically, i cannot replace EVERYTHING she lost AND be expected to hand a further £5,000 over to her.

She is now living with the children with a boyfriend who is an ex policeman and seems to know his way around the system.

Thank You.

[MissFM]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Drakey - there is a trout in the milk here somewhere.

Your sister has no financial claim on you for this, policeman boyfriend or not....

Erm...and the fire started when she was alone in the house but no cause established despite a detailed fire report?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Drakey - there is a trout in the milk here somewhere.

A trout that hitherto wore a police uniform?

Do you suppose she was the sub-genius who devised that mail redirection malarkey?

[Amethyst]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

Do you have a copy of her particulars of claim in the court case?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

I replaced everything that she and her children lost in the fire.

Then she has no valid claim.

Incidentally, there was a detailed fire report carried out by the insurance company. While the cause was never established by sister told myself and my loss adjuster that early one morning while I was at work she was downstairs and had lit a scented candle and had dashed upstairs to use the loo. She believed she may have occidentally knocked the candle over in her haste to get upstairs and the fire took hold around my large curtains and sofa area of the lounge.

Twaddle.

Unless the furnishings were unusually flammable, that just would not happen.

Basically, i cannot replace EVERYTHING she lost AND be expected to hand a further £5,000 over to her.

And after the risk she took, too? She could have been burned alive!

Had she asked for money before the fire?

She is now living with the children with a boyfriend who is an ex policeman and seems to know his way around the system.

Why did he leave the plods?

Did he quit or was he pushed?

[enquirer]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

The loss adjustors report, coupled with a coherent and well presented defence, should be enough to see her off. This will require that you face an uncomfortable truth - that she is no good. If you don't, she is going to take you to the cleaners.

[teaboy2]

Re: Sister taking me to court over my contents insurance claim

The loss adjustors report, coupled with a coherent and well presented defence, should be enough to see her off. This will require that you face an uncomfortable truth - that she is no good. If you don't, she is going to take you to the cleaners.

Thinking a bit more about this, in regards to the redirected mail etc. You may have a counter claim for damages/loss caused as a result of yourself not receiving important mail. Such damage could be damage to credit rating after missing payments due to not receiving your credit card or utility bills etc. Think really carefully about what important mail you would have received if it where not for her redirecting it and what damage or loss non receipt of said mail has caused you if any.

One line for you can include in your defense is this:

• If the claiment (your sister) truelly believed she was entitled to the money she is claiming, then why did she feel it necessary to fraudulently arrange for the defendants (You) mail to be redirected. If is clear the claimants intent in having the defendants mail redirected, was in order to make sure the defendant never received any mail from the court (particulars of claim) and therefore would not defend against her claim (if it were not for you discovery your mail had been redirected). It is clear the claimant was hoping that the defendant did not discover (rather naively) the redirection of the the defendants mail, until such a time where the claimant had already sought to enforce the default judgement by warrant of execution and use of court bailiffs.
• The Claimants act of redirected defendants mail is not only an unlawful interfering of defendants mail in breach of section 84 of the Postal Services Act 2000 it is also a breach of the defendants right to privacy (given some mail contains private and confidential content) but it could also lead to the defendant suffering financial detriment on grounds that the defendant missed paying bills due to not receiving them and the defendants credit rating possibly being effected as a result and therefore limiting or preventing the defendant from gaining access to future credit.
• The claimants act of unlawfully interfering with the defendants mail, was nothing but a deliberate attempt to misguide the court in to awarding the claimant a default judgement, this itself is akin to perjury, as the claimant knew their actions would result in a miscarriage of justice to which the claimant would benefit from financially, and therefore using the courts as a tool to defraud the defendant. The claimant themselves clearly knew that they were not entitled to any monies that they are claiming, because if there were entitled to it, then why would the claimant feel the need to take the action of interfering with the defendants mail in order to prevent the defendant for receiving the court documents and therefore prevent the defendant from being aware of the court claim and subsequently as a result of not being aware, prevent the defendant his right to defend against the claimants claim.

Save the above for use as at the end of your defense. The rest of your defense you merely have to outline in paragraphs the event leading up to your sister moving in, events leading up to the fire, the events that happened after the fire and how you replaced all the goods, use the receipts for said goods as evidence to support your defense.

On a side note, i believe that a judge will themselves be very dubious to your sister claim knowing that they had redirected your mail without your knowledge prior to her issuing a claim in court, as that act alone smells of rotten eggs.