Solicitor recommendation for minor car accident (no injury)?

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boony

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Fellow Frogger
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Jan 2, 2006
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Sydney
Over 12 months ago my car was hit by another car when the driver realised he had nowhere else to go because of a car parked up ahead.

The driver and his insurer have been extremely difficult, and now they have hired a solicitor who is making all sorts of legal threats. I do have dashcam footage of the accident which also shows the claim made by the driver is false. According to them however the footage doesn't actually show where the two cars connected so it doesn't prove a thing. Apparently I am also being uncooperative for not waiting a couple of hours for the next available operator and sending them emails instead, and they will seek legal costs from me as I have not accepted their paltry offer of settlement.

Obviously bluff but time for me to get a solicitor before I make a mistake which is probably what they are hoping for.

I'm in Sydney. Any recommendations based on experience of a solicitor who deals with such matters? Maybe PM me with names.

Cheers
 
Ohhh man, I understand you so much, I have also been in a similar situation actually. I had the footage from the dashcam I had everything to prove that the other driver was guilty. However his lawyer was such an asshole, he kept on saying that it is not enough, and so on and so forth, basically the same situation. My lawyer was actually even better, so we still won the case. Thankfully, https://jamesonlaw.com.au/ provided me with one of the best specialists in this field, and he helped me a lot.
 
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It will cost you your excess, but insurance companies will face down this sort of thing. Solicitors aren't cheap if a dispute develops.
 
This is a 2-year-old thread, revived by someone who had joined literally 1 minute before posting.

Pretty odd first contribution if you aks me.
 
Well since it's been awakened I may as well give the outcome. The insurer dragged the matter on and on with several hearings while their solicitor dodged and weaved. I have to say the local court was also very arrogant ignoring blatant breaches of procedure and clearly false evidence and even tried to hold a hearing without any notice to me or having the listing published. I had less than 2 hours to get there and also had to pay for the attendance of the solicitor of the insurer.

That's when I got a solcitior who advised it was one of the most terrible examples of the local court managing such an application in his experience. Anyway after that the local court and insurer couldn't play funny buggers any more. Even the car expert selected by the insurer valued my car at 4 times the amount the insurer claimed he car was worth. That only just covered my legal costs and only a small amount of the repairs to my car. The court did nothing about the false statements and false insrance claim of the driver who hit my car, or my multiple attempts to resolve the matter informally since the beginning.

A succesful outcome on paper but bitter taste of the ability of the court system and their attitude. It took me 2 years to get that.
 
A lawyer joke - told to me by a lawyer:

What is the difference between a lawyer and a laboratory rat? Answer: There are some things that even a laboratory rat will not do ...

Ian.
 
And of course we know the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?
One is a bottom dwelling scum sucker, the other is a scum sucking bottom dweller.
 
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Reactions: IWS
Buttercup said:
And of course we know the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?
One is a bottom dwelling scum sucker, the other is a scum sucking bottom dweller.
Click to expand...
Both you and I should apologise to the lawyers here. They must get sick of these - but too must be used to them :)
 
IWS said:
Both you and I should apologise to the lawyers here. They must get sick of these - but too must be used to them :)
Click to expand...
No IWS, there's no need, I can assure you that many lawyers feel the same way.
 
I heard a similar one to Buttercup's version -
What is the difference between a European Carp and a lawyer? - One is a bottom-feeding pest that should be eradicated from the country, the other is a fish.
Having said that, whilst I love a good lawyer joke, hiring a lawyer has on a couple of occasions done me no end of good and saved me a lot of stress.
 
I note that it is common to bad-mouth lawyers.
I also note that in every civil law suit, there is someone who went out and hired one to do their bidding and extract as much gain from the other side as possible.
Further, I see that when people are on the wrong end of conversations with police officers, suddenly lawyers aren't so bad.
And when someone 'wins' their case, they always seem to have had "a great lawyer"

Here is not a lawyer joke, but a lawyer saying: "The person who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer".
 
boony said:
Well since it's been awakened I may as well give the outcome. The insurer dragged the matter on and on with several hearings while their solicitor dodged and weaved. I have to say the local court was also very arrogant ignoring blatant breaches of procedure and clearly false evidence and even tried to hold a hearing without any notice to me or having the listing published. I had less than 2 hours to get there and also had to pay for the attendance of the solicitor of the insurer.

That's when I got a solcitior who advised it was one of the most terrible examples of the local court managing such an application in his experience. Anyway after that the local court and insurer couldn't play funny buggers any more. Even the car expert selected by the insurer valued my car at 4 times the amount the insurer claimed he car was worth. That only just covered my legal costs and only a small amount of the repairs to my car. The court did nothing about the false statements and false insrance claim of the driver who hit my car, or my multiple attempts to resolve the matter informally since the beginning.

A succesful outcome on paper but bitter taste of the ability of the court system and their attitude. It took me 2 years to get that.
Click to expand...
There is a scam going on in Sydney at the moment involving a particular law firm, tame repairers and a tame assessing company. It’s disgraceful and the police need to become involved. Friend of mine backed into an older car causing minor damage, then got threatening solicitors letters and a bill for 20k. Be very careful out there.
 
1972Ren said:
I note that it is common to bad-mouth lawyers.
I also note that in every civil law suit, there is someone who went out and hired one to do their bidding and extract as much gain from the other side as possible.
Further, I see that when people are on the wrong end of conversations with police officers, suddenly lawyers aren't so bad.
And when someone 'wins' their case, they always seem to have had "a great lawyer"

Here is not a lawyer joke, but a lawyer saying: "The person who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer".
Click to expand...
A few generalisations there..... and not all true.
I have 3 times represented myself before a judge, and 3 times won.
One was defending a neg driving charge against a police prosecutor. I won't bore you with the details, but at the scene of the minor accident the police officer attending obviously knew the other driver. In taking statements, he wrote down his wording not mine, so I refused to sign it.
I knew I was right so I elected to go to court... after 5 months it came up, after a fairly short prosecution, I gave my case, including some important evidence which I knew the police had recorded, but failed to give to the court.
The judge immediately dismissed the charge, and turned to the police prosecutor with scathing remarks about the shoddy police work.
I know quite a few lawyers, and believe that they do not have special skills, or powers of persuasion that I do not.
They may well be more familiar with the law itself, and know how it is administered, but that doesn't make them indispensable.
 
Yes, my last statement sure is a generalisation, and where there is a generalisation, there is necessarily an exception.

I would, however, suggest that knowing the law and procedures, is actually pretty much it when it comes to law cases. Perry Mason style persuasion performances are a rarity, IMO.

I agree that where the risk of losing is relatively inconsequential, as is typically the case with non criminal traffic matters, representing yourself can be attractive. Almost fun; I've done it myself. If however, there are serious money at stake, and/or criminal proceedings, and you think you can do it yourself, well good luck. You'll need it.
 
Don't blame the lawyers as a group for a legal system that is not a justice system. Of course there are ambulance/accident etc chasers who use it to their advantage.
 
Jobo, yes it is a "justice system", but unfortunately what constitutes "justice" is impossible to define, and almost invariably assessed utterly selfishly.

common example: whenever someone has been murdered, the family almost invariably call it "justice" if an accused person is convicted, and "injustice" if they are not. As if "justice" is only done when the person they are convinced done it, is actually convicted. And that an acquittal couldn't possibly be justice. As if lack of proof - when they know better - isn't justice, but some unfair impediment.

Likewise many people have anecdotes about civil matters where them getting their way equates with "justice". Blithely overlooking that the other party views it the same way.

I do agree with not blaming lawyers. Even where ambulance chasers - class action firms in particular, whom I despise and of whose existence I disapprove - only do exist because of willing customers queuing up with the hand out and wallet open.
 
It's unfair to blame lawyers for following their natural instincts. After all, we don't blame the shark or crocodile for eating people. It's just the natural instinct of the lawyer to fleece people, just as any predator relates to its prey. Although some prefer the analogy of plucking a goose.
I believe there are studies that show the happiness and contentment of any society is in inverse proportion to the number of lawyers.
 
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