On Sun, 21 Jul 2013 23:29:50 +0100, Judith
wrote:

On Sun, 21 Jul 2013 22:43:37 +0100, Peter Parry wrote:

snip

Few are
covered by insurance and even when they are it is often only allied
with house contents cover which won't pay out without the claimant
paying to get a court judgment allocating legal responsibility.

Interesting comment there. Many people have previously claimed that cyclists
are covered by their house contents insurance (hence the "he'll claim off his
fridge freezer insurance" comments).

What you say about the insurance company not paying out unless there is a court
judgment is quite significant and interesting.

Do you have any more info' (or pointer to same) on the matter; if what you say
is true (and I have no reason to disbelieve it) then that is really quite
interesting.

Home content cover usually includes some degree of personal liability
cover for the occupier. The wording of most policies is something
like

"Legal liability for damages and claimants’ costs and expenses
incurred by the Family in respect of accidents resulting in
Injury to any person or loss of or damage to property"

Motor insurance largely works without court intervention. Claims are
handled directly by insurance companies and they assess them and pay
accordingly. Usually who is to blame isn't a major issue.

Personal Liability insurance protects the insured against civil law
claims that are brought against them on the basis of statutory
liability provisions. They only cover the insured's legal liability
for their negligence so the first thing a claimant must do is
establish that the policy holder was negligent and has legal liability
for the accident. This is often difficult for the claimant to do
unaided. Even the insured can spoil a claimants case for example by
admitting at the time that the accident was their fault they may
invalidate their own cover leaving the claimant to try to recover
money from the individual.

Insurance companies also deal with relatively few such claims and are
well aware that a simple way of both discouraging them and avoiding
paying is to automatically deny the claim and require the claimant to
establish liability in court before they pay. This can be an
expensive and intimidating process for the claimant even if the
insurer gives way at the court door.

There really is no comparison between using the relatively simple
motor claims system and trying to pursue a case for personal
liability.