Personal injury claim against me

[DiAd76]

I'm hoping for some advice on a claim being made against me. Long story as short as possible, in February 2022, a storm took down a fence on a field holding my daughter's 3 horses/ponies. A driver claims that his Mercedes ML jeep collided with her small Shetland pony whilst driving at around 50mph in snowy & windy conditions, causing considerable damage to the jeep (which his insurers AXA, repaired without claiming against me). I had no insurance and spoke with his insurers several times. Although there was hair from the pony on his car, the pony was completely unhurt - not a mark, bump or scrape on him and he was able to walk the half mile home a few hours later. You would think that a Shetland pony, hit at this speed and causing considerable damage to a jeep, would sustain very serious injuries, if it even survived. I asked AXA to send their insurance assessor to inspect the pony. The assessor inspected the pony within days of the collision and found no signs of injury on the pony. He took photographs of the pony from every angle, for submission with his report. When I first spoke with the driver and asked him where abouts on the road the collision with the pony had taken place, he replied "err, you know, not at the traffic lights". There are no traffic lights anywhere on this road. The story just doesn't add up.
The driver has now instructed a solicitor to pursue me in respect of personal injuries which he claims to have sustained as a result of the accident. When I spoke with him following the accident, he told me that the collision would almost certainly exacerbate an old injury of his. The Solicitor has also written to my mother (the owner of the field), advising that they also intend to issue proceedings against her. I rented the field from mum and have a rental agreement, which his solicitors has not yet had sight of.
I'm having to try to fight this myself as I simply cannot afford legal representation. I don't have any assets. I rent my house and don't own a car (it's provided to me via the Motability Scheme). His solicitors have now emailed, saying "before engaging in negotiations directly with you, we need to be satisfied that you are in a position to meet any damages, settlement/award our client might receive. In this regard, please be good enough to let us have a full list of your personal assets." Should I advise them that I have no assets? Should I also send them a copy of the land rental agreement, which shows that I (not mum) was responsible for the fencing in the field. Mum is disabled and alone since we lost dad three years ago. She does have assets and I'm really worried that they will go after her for compensation. She is obviously aware of the claim, but she couldn't cope with a court case being taken against her.
I'm so worried and would appreciate any advice you good people could give me.
Thank you so much.

[theberenger]

Assistance with the legal position will need to come from someone other than me, but as a general comment in regard to the damage sustained by the Jeep, all cars these days are designed with pedestrian-safe crumple zones which encompasses the front bumper, a void behind the front bumper, and the bonnet. All of these components are designed to deform considerably to absorb the impact of a person unfortunate enough to be hit.

So it is conceivable that the horse was hit and was relatively OK afterwards, that being the intended purpose of the crumple zone. It also means the vehicle in question can appear to be damaged much more severely than it really is. I share your scepticism about the chap travelling at 50mph though. Hit anything relatively bulky, say for example a bloomin' horse(!), at 50mph and the damage is going to be catastrophic, to both.



Note, this area of intended deformation I refer to as a crumple zone, is different to the crumple zone that comes into play if the car has a more serious and heavy impact.

[atticus]

Check with your property insurance whether this is covered. If so, your insurer will handle the claim.

[PallasAthena]

Or if not the property insurer, did you have specific insurance for your horses? If so does that include third party liability insurance? I do see that in your post you say "I had no insurance...", but just to double check this. Did you actually submit this as a claim to any insurer? What did they say?

From a practical point of view, once the solicitor realises you have no assets and no insurance they are likely to focus on your mother. They'll go where the money is. I suggest you talk to your mother about instructing a solicitor to act for you jointly if your mother is willing and able to pay for it. Although the driver's solicitor may take some convincing that someone who owns three horses doesn't have any other asset at all.

The solicitors have put your mother on notice that they are going to issue proceedings against her. Has she notified that to her own insurers? If not she must do that as soon as possible to avoid breaching the terms and conditions of her own policy.

Based solely on what you have posted the driver has provided you with no evidence that he hit your escaped pony, while you have independent professional evidence that just days the incident your pony was uninjured, so you should have a good defence. But do you have documentation from AXA confirming what their assessor found? I'm guessing that as you weren't AXA's customer you probably don't have a copy of the assessor's report. You will need that to defend the claim. Otherwise you won't have any evidence either.

The information you have given us begs as many questions as it answers. You say there was hair from the pony on his car, but how do you know it was hair from your pony? Who carried out the DNA tests? Have you seen the report? Did the driver have a dashcam? What did it record at the relevant time?