ttxela said:
Cap'n Chris said:
Indeed, but you won't know whether you have a vexatious litigant in your midst, or related to someone in your midst, until after the event.
I think increasingly people who may not originally intend making a claim end up going down that route as a result of, for instance, making a claim on their income protection insurance if self employed, and their insurers looking to recover costs perhaps?
That's an interesting point Alex.
There are some other factors though to consider.
Neither an insurance company or a 'no win, no fee' lawyer are going to go the the time and expense of pursuing a claim unless there is a realistic chance of getting money at the end of it.
There are two separate and distinct hurdles to overcome, the first is winning a case, the second is actually getting money out of the defendant.
The 'no win no fee' crowd have scored in the past because because claims were mainly pursued against large organisations such as local authorities who found it more cost effective to settle out of court than defend the claim. They changed policy on this while ago so these type of claims are actually decreasing quite dramatically.
The other is the fact that out of all the money that is awarded through the courts only a miserable 25% actually gets paid, a sobering thought.
Moving on a bit, the term "Vexatious Litigant" has been used.
Anyone who pursues civil actions that are frivolous, malicious, vindictive etc constitute a misuse of the civil justice system for which a person can be declared a Vexatious Litigant.
This can be applied for on line to the Lord Chancellors Office website and once a person, or a company, is declared thus they will be unable to commence any civil proceedings in the future without authority of a high court.
Of the thread but there are companies that have used the civil justice system in the past to intimidate people into paying them money which the law says they do not have pay, and they have had their claws clipped.
All interesting stuff.