Legal Advice Please

[Captain Colonial]

Without going into details, in the course of doing some repairs outside my house in June, a well-known utility distribution company managed to damage my tin-top to the tune of over £1k.

 

Said company subcontracted part of the work to Company B, who further subcontracted another part of the work to Company C - it was the employee of Company C whose actions damaged my car.

 

Since then, none of the companies has cooperated or taken responsibility.  (As I said, not going into details.). It’s been a gigantic game of Pass The Buck or just plain blank me.

 

This is inevitably heading towards Small Claims Court.  The question is, who to sue - the primary company, the subcontractor or the sub-subcontractor?  My initial thought is it’s the primary company’s responsibility as the work done by the sub-subcontractor was performed on their behalf.  Opinions welcome, may also check with the CAB. 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Go for the company you’ve got your contract with. It’s up to them to manage their contractors etc.

 

good luck

 

[TAFKARM]

Can you go through your car insurance company and let them deal with it?

[Captain Colonial]

4 minutes ago, TAFKARM said:

Can you go through your car insurance company and let them deal with it?

My insurance company wanted to write off my car and offered my a third of the car’s value.  🤬🤬🤬

 

The damage is cosmetic only, the vehicle is not off the road.

[Paul Gibney - Lancashire AO]

where is the car currently Scott ?

 

[jeff oakley]

I would go straight to the main contractor. Issue a small court claims and then give them time to respond.

 

I would expect they will deny responsibility but just keep going, the cost of defending a £1000 claim they will deal with it.

 

We took a well known holiday company to court, they denied it were going to defend it but then settled as they knew it would cost more and we were right.

 

Paperwork is simple to do and process afterwards pretty swift

[Captain Colonial]

7 minutes ago, Paul Gibney - Lancashire AO said:

where is the car currently Scott ?

 

In its normal spot in front of my house, where it was damaged.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

IANAL 

Assuming you don’t have a contract yourself with either company A or B then I would be claiming against company C as they were the ones that caused damage to your property. if they were contacted to somebody else then it would then be for them to make a counter claim against company B to recover their costs.

 

if you however  contracted Company A to do the work then IMO you would  have a claim against them.

[Captain Colonial]

To be clear, the work had nothing to do with me.  They dug up the street to replace the utility supply.

[KugaWestie]

I would be pursuing company C, they are the ones that caused the damage.

[stephenh]

KugaWestie is correct. I can't see how you can have a cause of action against Company A, if they haven't done anything wrong, and weren't present (through their employee) when the damage occurred.

[Blatman]

If the work was not requested/required by Captain C dealing with "Company A" as the principle, then I agree start with the company who were actually there. Lay it on thick too, citing H&S if it can be weaved in, maybe using words like "negligence and "duty of care" and all those key metrics that will make them look bad during their ISO audits...

I'm betting they would have to indemnify the contractee against liability for any thrid party claims too... That sounds familiar somehow...

Small claims court for sure and have a negotiation item to use;

For what it's worth I claimed against a central London borough (no names) for a ruined sump on on one of their roads. They tried to say talk to the contractor which I declined stating that road upkeep is clearly a council responsibility. I got them three quotes and (here's the negotiation) stated that I would waive my out of pocket expenses if I received payment within 14 days. The out of pocket expenses weren't a fortune as I was in the AA so it was mostly going to be for admin, postage etc, but even so... A cheque arrived a few days later, nothing to do with my waiver offer but becasue their excess was FAR more than what I was claiming, and I knew it. But by offering a waiver I look reasonable, which is ALWAYS nice to have in ones pocket should a third party adjudicator be involved at some point

[Jim RS]

Personally I would go after company A as they are the managing contractor in this case, basically B and C are indirect employees so the heads of responsibility rest in their domain. Basically A,B & C all have culpability in this case but go for the top of the list and then they can apportion blame as they see fit.

As said, small claims court is easy, low cost and effective especially as your claim is under the maximum threshold to prevent legal fees being chargeable.

As a small company we used to be using this facility to chase bad debts and most times it was successful (actually took Norwich Union through this system several times and won). If it goes the distance you may have to travel to the main contractors designated location, but you can claim for costs. In fact we were up the court on such a regular basis my wife was referred to by her first name😵

[stephenh]

If Joe Bloggs has caused the damage by his negligence, and he did so in the course of his employment by Company C, then Company C is vicariously liable for Joe Bloggs negligence. Joe Bloggs is not employed by Company A, Company A appears to have sub-contracted the job originally to Company B. So on what basis in law could Company A be liable for the negligence of Joe Bloggs, who has no relationship to Company A whatsoever. 

My apologies to anyone on the boardroom who may bear the name of Joe Bloggs!

Scott, this is my last word on the matter, I just don't want you to waste your money on suing the wrong party, based on "legal" advice from people who may not have any legal qualification.

[Captain Colonial]

Thanks all for your take on things.  Everything you’ve said makes sense, which is why this is a bit of a minefield.  I’m going to get a bit of advice from my lawyer, then file a claim.