To be really worried

[Sunflowers92]

Last year I was in a car accident where a van pulled in front of my path and cut me up. There were no witnesses or cctv unfortunately and the third party is not admitting liability.

I have had no update or correspondence from either the solicitor or my insurance company for months.

today I have received an email from the solicitor about court costs of £980. I’m in shock as I haven’t even been told it’s going to court. I’m a single parent and I don’t have this kind of money laying around. They did say I can apply for a refund or reduction (after I’ve paid the fee). Aibu to be really worried and also shocked that nobody has told me the case is going to court?

You don’t mention yours or his insurer once

and this is the very first piece of correspondence you have received?

@Hateitissues I have had no correspondence from anyone for about 4 months now. The last I heard from my insurer was that they were still pushing for 100% liability for the third party. There has been no mention of a court case or anything like that

ok so surely the first thing to do is contact the insurance company. Sit down, get comfy with the phone and dedicate some time to it. Have all the paperwork, reference numbers etc to hand. See what they can tell you. If you are still unclear, ask for an appointment with CAB and go from there. Please don't panic. The legal system is extremely intimidation for a layperson (as I found out in family court issues) but its just a system to be navigated one step at a time. Post on the legal board in here too and tyou may get some genuine expert help.

From the OP:

I have had no update or correspondence from either the solicitor or my insurance company for months

What @BibbleandSqwauk said. Perhaps you have missed some correspondence? Ask for everything and ask for an explanation- I can’t imagine it’s gone straight to court….

Going forward pay extra for legal cover it’s about £30. I’ve had to use it before - invaluable.

Your insurers will sort it out, don’t worry.

You shouldn't have to pay anything. Speak to your insurer.

Thanks everyone. I’ve had a look through all my letters and emails from both insurer and solicitors. The last correspondence from the solicitors was 10.01.23 and a request for more evidence which I sent and the last from my insurer was 06.03.23 but neither of them mention a court case

Can I ask how they've worded the request for the court fee?

You need to refer it to your insurer to deal with.

If the matter has been passed to solicitors then most insurance staff are pretty clueless about the court process and OP needs to speak to the solicitors.

They have sent me a form to fill out to see if I’m eligible for a reduction or refund in court fees after I’ve paid them. It says to fill them out before a certain date

I have just spoken to my insurer, they have said the claim will be closed soon as the third party insurer have paid and they have recovered all their costs. So I’m confused. I will contact the solicitors

@Sunflowers92 but what have they said when they have asked you to pay the court fee? An EX160 form (which I'm assuming is the form you've been sent) is to do with your eligibility for a reduction in the fee, but you shouldn't be parting with any cash.

That's great! Your insurer just probably hasn't told the sols that it's been settled (which is not unusual).

What will have happened here is that the other party has refused to pay so the insurers have passed to solicitors to get them to issue court proceedings. As soon as the proceedings were issued and served the defendant paid up in full. The reason that the request to pay the court fee has been sent to you is that the proceedings have to be issued in your name as Claimant, not the name of the insurance company. However the insurers should be covering all the costs (and indeed it seems they have succeeded in getting the defendant to pay their costs too as part of the settlement).