Credit Hire Success
Langleys’ Local Authority clients continue to face numerous claims for the recovery of credit hire charges. Recently, Langleys handled two cases which resulted in significant savings being made despite liability having been admitted in both claims due to Claimant’s Solicitors failing to comply with Court Directions.
In the first case, the Claimant sought to recover credit hire charges totalling £16,774.66. Impecuniosity was pleaded, the Claimant’s case being he did not have the financial means with which to pay for car hire. A spot hire rate report was obtained and an offer was made to settle in the sum of £9,000. The Claimant’s Solicitors failed to comply with the Court Directions and no witness evidence was served to substantiate the Claimant’s case. Consequently, we made an application on behalf of the Local Authority to strike out the claim at Trial when there was no attendance by the Claimant or the Claimant’s Solicitors. In support of the Application a chronology was lodged before the Court detailing the chasing letters, telephone calls and emails to the Claimant’s Solicitors, notifying them of the dates for exchange of witness evidence and outlining the date of the trial. The Court struck out the Claimant’s claim and the Local Authority’s costs were recovered in full. Despite the Claimant’s Solicitors’ earlier conduct, they subsequently issued an Application to re-instate the Claimant’s claim on the basis that the Trial date had been missed due to the volume of work the Claimant’s Solicitors had recently received but the Application failed with the Court finding that the Claimant’s Solicitors had failed to provide any good reason as to why they had not attended the Trial.
In the second case the credit hire claim totalled £8,972.77. The Claimant’s vehicle repairs cost only £322.21 but the Claimant incurred credit hire charges over 104 days whilst waiting for the cheque to repair his vehicle. The Claimant did not plead impecuniosity and on that basis it was argued that the Claimant would have had sufficient means with which to pay the £322.21 to repair his vehicle. It was unreasonable to wait 104 days and incur such high hire charges given the low value of repairs. Again a spot hire rate report was obtained and we made a Calderbank offer to settle the hire claim at £1,850. Upon the exchange of witness evidence, the Claimant’s Solicitors served only an unsigned witness statement from the Claimant. At Trial, as the Claimant was not in attendance, the Claimant’s Counsel made an Application was made to adjourn the Trial. Again, by filing a Chronology before the Court that showed there had been no attempts by the Claimant’s Solicitors to progress the case we were able to successfully oppose the Claimant’s Application. The Court considered that there had been a “lamentable” failure on the part of the Claimant’s Solicitors to get to grips with the matter. The Claimant’s claim was struck out and we recovered the Local Authority’s costs in full.
Whilst credit hire continues to be a challenging area, it seems that the Court will impose costs sanctions in cases where there is unreasonable conduct by the Claimant’s representatives. Providing a detailed chronology outlining the unreasonable conduct assists Defendants in pursuing costs.