TO SUE OR NOT TO SUE?

[Maxine]

Having just been the victim of a car shunt accident, whereby my husbandand I were left with painful whiplash, I was wondering if there is a means of sueing the lady motorist who ran into the back of us. She apologised by saying 'Sorry, but I ws looking in the boutique window as I drove down the street!' .

OK!, it is all been reported to our respective insurers, but as the car did not seem to be damaged; the fender taking the strain, we have been put to a lot of inconvenience and expense. Two visits to the insurance bureau, two visits to our doctor plus a visit to have X-Rays taken. Total bill so far if Euro250, which no doubt we can claim back from the CPAM.

But what of the pain? We both have had permanent headaches, painful necks and spine and in my husbands case, constant tinitus. All this many days after the incident! We know that in the UK we would contact one of those TV solicitors and they would take up the case and would receive damages to the tune of a couple of K each! Is this practice followed in France at all? Does anyone know?

[Miki]

I'm afraid that style of suing has not really arrived yet. Our Daughter

was in an accident and it is all we can do to keep her treatment for

her loosened teeth going.

Going by the way you mention "Fender" you might be from the States ? OK

insurance claims are fair game for anyone to have a go over the pond

and even over the puddle to the UK but perhaps, just perhaps, the

French may have a bit of a  point in the way claims are done here.

You have only just had the accident, so the pain is around at the

moment, if it disappears in a week, a month, will you still sue or will

you be happy the pain has gone, in which case what will you sue for ?

I don't wish you any pain but suing is not a cheap alternative to

gaining  recompense here and, be sure it will be a VERY longwinded

and drawn out affair. You can certainly claim along the way for all

treatments, first paying by your carte vitale and the insurance

companies take it from there. You will be required to make visits to a

specialist who will guide the insurance company as to the severity of

your pain etc. If you wish to have your own specialist as well, 

you might or might not get help financially. It really can be a pain

(excuse the pun) but life is a pain on occasion but I am really worried

about the way all this soliciting or toting for injury payouts is

going...where will it end and for sure, one thing is certain, all the

rest of society will be paying for dodegpot claims, now I suspect, a fair percentage of the payouts (not aiming that at you either).

A visit to an Avocat ought to put you in the picture.

[Lori]

From our experience with attorneys in France, they do not come cheap !  Before they even take a case - any case (according to the ones we have dealt with), they want a wad of cash (check will do).  We've never hired one that didn't want 3 times the amount of money you have already paid out just to take the case.  Often, the case then takes years to finish and the results are not always anywhere near what you were looking for, even when you think you have a rock solid case.

I agree with Miki in that things operate differently here.  Since I am from the sue happy U.S., I can appreciate both sides of the difference.  Here, judges seem to take a dim view of anyone trying to use the courts for what they feel are invalid reasons.  I am not saying your pain is invalid, only that, short of any permanent physical damage, they likely would.

Just my point of view.  I hope you feel better very soon and that the Insurance company will bill the party at fault for all of your expenses.

 

[Tony F Dordogne]

I do have some experience of this in France.  If you have legal cover with your home insurance, I think it may be covered - so I was told by local AXA person anyway.

But, you can sue if you wish to for the damages, pain etc but as Lori and Miki have said, it will be a long and laborious process.  In France you can take a civil suit to piggy back on other, usually criminal, cases that are going through the court which is usually why you see representatives of the aggrieved/bereaved families in news reports, they are looking for civil restitution/damages/call them what you will.

If you had a straight forward shunt where all your medical bills are being covered by CPAM and your mutuel, who can slug it out with the other party's insurers, I'd leave it at that.  It is quite likely that if you approach your insurance company to ask them to take this on, they will decline and that leaves it down to you to try to persuade an advocat to take the case - and there are no ambulance chasers in France as there are in the US and UK which will take cases on a no win, no fee basis - my information from an advocat is that such action by lawyers is probably illegal here.

 

 

[Deimos]

I don't wish to sound unsympathetic and would not wish pain or discomfort on anybody but how would getting several K hand-out reduce your pain or discomfort. You say no damage (and that is covered by insurance anyway), you say250€ medical bills (but that can largely be reclaimed from CPAM/Mutuel/top-up) - so what exactly is the money wanted for ?

I cannot see how getting paid cash will help the headaches, discomfort, etc. How much was your lost earnings for a couple of visits to insurance brokers, doctors and for x-rays. French health system is pretty quick without too much waiting around, plus most employers would allow you time off for such things without loss of earnings. Are you self employed and thus how much business have you lost from these visits ?

Maybe I am being unsympathetic but I feel it is fortunate that France has not (yet) gone the way of the US where an accident is seen as a way to "get richer". It is a pity that the UK has followed the US path as at the end of the day it is everybody else who is paying (through their insurance premiums, taxes or wherever).

Ian

[Val_2]

From reading french press and seeing reports on TV where people have been awarded damages for injury etc, the payout is minimal and set in stone I'm afraid. The family of a local lady killed by a wreckless driver got a final settlement of 3000Ff(pre-euro days) to help pay for the funeral and nothing else. Others who have got a payment received about the cost of treatment and not much more. It can take years to get a few euros back and cost you ten times that in the meantime with avocats etc.

[Llwyncelyn]

Before taking semi-retirement I was and obviously still am a lawyer but fortunately not in this sort of field.  To be absolutely honest I have a distaste of the way the law is going in the UK and without being rude we are very much now applying the rules in this regard and which are practiced in the US.

The extent of our development is witnessed at a major teaching hospital that I know and which has a type of shopping mall.  On the left is an undertaker and on the right a Solicitor.  Need I say more.

I have some experience of the system in France and as the contributors say it is a long and I mean long drawn out affair and with a constant need of fueling the pockets of the Advocat and a substantial chunk up front.  Thus he or she is not out of pocket but you are and here in France the chances of you succeeding may not be as great as in the UK.

It might not be easy to do but my advice is just to put it down to experienced.

 

[Llwyncelyn]

Sorry for the spelling of Advocat.  It is early on Sunday and only one cup of coffee to date.

 

[Quillan]

Have you looked at your French insurance policy (either car or home). I have the same type of thing that you get in the UK i.e. legal assistance. I have never had to use it becasue I have only had to claim once and it was quick and simple so I did not need the legal assistance bit.

[Miki]

[quote] Have you looked at your French insurance policy (either car or home). I

have the same type of thing that you get in the UK i.e. legal

assistance. I have never had to use it becasue I have only had to claim

once and it was quick and simple so I did not need the legal assistance

bit. [/quote]

What are you going to claim for ? Look in your policies and see how

little one can get for loss of limbs and other vital parts !! If 

the assurance company decide whether you have a case they put it in the

hands of their legal side, that costs big money, they will not

proceed if it is for this kind of thing, unless your Doctor or the

company "expert" decide that the probelm is severe enough to warrant

all the neccessary time that it will take.

The experts do not do it for nothing, some costs are covered but not

all. In the meantime, CPAM or ones own mutuelle will be paying until

someone or no one is blamed and then in the fullness of time, something

or nothing gets sorted.

Example :  An old friend was run down by a car 7 years ago, got

paid out two years ago...... He had one leg terribly injured, an awful

back problem (still) and because he is retired...the final payout came

to ......€9000 and some of that was taken away in fees !!

Another friend, very poorly for a fair while, after being injured up in

a pile up.... 5 years later, after much messing about with experts,

doctors, dentists, legal meetings still has not got any further than a

derisory sum of €3000 offered. His loss of earnings could not

substantiate much more (B&B & Gîtes) as after reductions, the

net is not often left with much or anything at all to be taxed

on....and no claim was allowed for getting in help to run the business

either.

I honestly think one has to forget what insurance cover one had in the UK.

[Quillan]

Sorry I was talking about my French policy which has this built in. As I said I have never used this facility (costs an extra 28 Euros per year)  so I don’t know how it works here but I would have thought they will pay the legal fees based on the percentage possibility of winning a litigation. What that percentage is in France I don’t know but in the UK it’s typically around 75% these days as opposed to 51% 10 years ago.

I just thought that if the original poster had this facility within his policy (assuming it’s a French one) then he could approach them to see if they thought it worth while trying to make a legal case and sueing. I rather suspect they will just say no but you never know if you don’t ask.

[Miki]

Yes,  most car assurance policies sold will have that written in.

Our lowest insurance for the little family run about has that kind of

cover even. But my point was that something like we are talking about

here, will possibly not be seen as worth the amount of time, the people

they use, inc the experts (medical) and avocats and prove too expensive

to follow it all through. I have to say again, don't make the mistake

of comparing UK litigation with French, I have seen far too many

injustices (inc the two cases I mentioned earlier) and "turning of the insurers backs" to know how

insurance works here and like the US of A and the UK it ain't !!