The Court of Appeal has delivered some good news for victims of ‘hit and run’ drivers, in a significant decision that will allow claimants to pursue unnamed drivers in a civil action.
Ruling in Cameron v Hussain and another [2017] EWCA Civ 366 this week, Lady Justice Gloster and Lord Justice Lloyd Jones (Sir Ross Cranston dissenting) allowed a claimant injured by an unidentified hit and run driver of a vehicle that was traced and covered by insurance to recover from the vehicle's insurers. They did this by citing the untraced driver as a party described by reference to the car he was driving and the accident details.
Solicitor Dr Nicholas Bevan, a specialist in uninsured driver claims, said: ‘This landmark Court of Appeal ruling clears the way for numerous victims of anonymous “hit and run drivers” to avoid the disadvantageous and unfair compensatory schemes managed by the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) under Untraced Drivers Agreements 2003 and 2017, but only where the vehicle responsible is identified and has some insurance in place.
‘Claimants can now pursue unnamed drivers in these circumstances by citing them as a party in a normal civil action. The defendant driver is to be described by reference to the accident circumstances in which they are alleged to have been involved.’
Dr Bevan said: ‘It was common ground that a judgment against such a party triggers the insurer’s statutory liability to compensate under s 151, Road Traffic Act 1988. Unauthorised use does not exculpate the insurer duty to compensate the third-party victim. This decision neatly circumvents the harsh impact of the statutory anomaly within s 151(2)(b) that restricts the insurer’s statutory duty to satisfy judgment against any party other than their assured, see Sahin v Havard & Riverstone Insurance [2016] EWCA Civ 1202. The Untraced Drivers scheme will continue to apply to claims where the vehicle is untraced or uninsured.
‘This outcome is a remarkable achievement. Benjamin Williams QC’s skilful and masterly arguments on behalf of the claimant did not need to rely on any European Court of Justice authorities. The defendant insurers had sought to rely on Sahin, considered in the article, Third Time Lucky?, in this journal.
‘According to the MIB, in 2014 60% of all new MIB claims were hit and run accidents. How many of these feature identified vehicles that were covered by insurance is unknown.’
