Final Step that must be completed before commencing proceedings:
The final step that must be completed before commencing a proceeding in the case of motor vehicle accident against AB is through a letter of demand sent to the defendant AB or request the defendant to solve the matter through out of court settlement. A letter of demand is a letter which shall be sent by the plaintiff to the defendant of the case in which CD or his solicitor on behalf of CD shall demand compensation for the loss suffered by CD with regards to the accident which was occurred for the negligence of AB. If AB provides the amount of money demanded as compensation to the CD then CD shall not make any further court proceedings in the matter. However, if the defendant denies the matter or does not pay any compensation to the CD then CD shall sent a letter of warning and start court proceedings against AB. The solicitor must also note that whether the driver of the car was the owner of the car or a driver who has been acting as the agent of the owner. If the driver has been acting as the agent of the owner then both the owner and the driver shall be liable for the accident or the damage caused due to the accident (MAIC. 2019). If the driver did not act as an agent of the owner then the damage shall be pursued from the driver itself.
The concerned court in which the claim must be made:
According to the Section 68 of District Court of Queensland Act, 1967 provides civil jurisdiction to entertain case related to motor accident within the jurisdiction of Queensland. In the given case the damage to the car of CD valued at $175,000. The car which CD was driving was a 1969 GTO Ferrari was damaged by AB in a car accident. The repairing cost of the car has been valued at $175,000. As per the provisions of the Queensland’s Motor Vehicle Law, the District Court has the power to entertain case value of $750,000.
Limitations as to filing of claim:
According to the Limitation of Actions Act, 1974 it has been stated that the enactment has imposed certain strict time limit within which the claims or court proceeding must be made in the state of Queensland. If the claim has not been made within the period of limitation then the claims shall be barred by statute. The court can allow an extension for filing a claim petition in very limited circumstances which has been provided under Section 30 and Section 32 of the Limitation Act. According to the Section 10 of the Limitation Act it has been stated that for claims which include property damage, it must be filed within six years from the date on which the actual cause of action took place. According to the Rule 24 (1) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 it has been stated that the claim shall remain in force for a term of 1year from the data on which it has been filed. Rule 27 (1) of the UCPR, 1999 has been stated that the application for claim must be filed and served to each respondents before three working days from the hearing date of the application. According to Chapter 5 of the UCPR, 1999, it has been stated that the respondents should file a Notice of Intention to Defend within 28 days after the claim has been filed and the same must be served to the plaintiff on the same date.
Rules regarding privileged document:
According to Section 212 of the UCPR, stated that privileged documents are documents to which disclosure does not apply. It has been state Privileged documents are those documents which consist of conversation between the petitioner and its attorney. The term privilege makes a party to hold the evidence from disclosure before any third party or the court, however, such evidence must be written or oral. According to the Rule 214 (1) (a) it has been provided that the disclosure of documents or evidences must be performed by both the parties providing a list of documents which the parties believes must be disclosed (Qls.com.au. 2019). The party also must lit the documents which t does not wants to disclose as they contains privileged information. Therefore, both the parties shall disclose all the documents that has been provided under the list of documents except those documents which has been marked as privilege.
The form for List of Documents which is to be used in the Interlocutory Proceedings:
After the parties to the litigation files their pleadings to the proceedings, the pleadings shall become closed and after the closing of the pleading the court may ask the parties to file their documents or evidence before the court for disclosure as per the provisions of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999. Under the provision of Rule 214 (1) (a) it has been provided that the parties must disclose their evidences except the privilege documents in the respective form 19 within 14 days from the request of disclosure of documents has been made by the parties to the dispute (Lawyers and Burrows 2019). Under Form 19 the parties must provide Description of Document, Person Who Made Document and date and each of the documents also must be segregated into Document ID, Document Type, Title, Author (Surname Initials), Author Organisation, Recipient, Recipient Organization, Date. The form shall also contain the list of privileged documents in the same format.
Information that is required from the client or third party to prove liability:
The client should provide a detailed description of the accident without keeping anything secret even if the client knows that the client is liable for the accident. As a paralegal in charge of this matter, the CCTV footage of the accident which occurred between AB and CD must be obtained from the traffic department of the concerned area or the concerned police officer who in this case is the investigating officer of the particular accident. The CCTV footage shall enable the solicitor to mark the areas on which it can put the case to make the other party liable. The footage of the accident will also enable who had violated the traffic rules for which the accident has occurred or what was the traffic light when the accident occurred. Therefore, to prove the liability of the defendant’s car the following documents or information which are needed by the solicitor or the law firm which are as follows:
- Statement of Witness of the particular accident.
- Incident report form the concerned authority
- Documents of the car including registration number.
- Footage of traffic camera.
- Medical reports of the injured person, if any in relation to the accident.
Cost Letter:
To
CD
Subject: Contract for the cost that is required for pleading on Behalf of you before District Court of Queensland.
Dear Sir,
This is to inform you that the pleading and proceeding with the respect to you motor vehicle accident and claim for property damage requires costs as well as fees for such service which shall be provided by us as per you consent. The particulars as to the cost of such services is attached below:
Cost of Proceeding: $1000
Cost at the stage of pleadings: $2000
Cost at the stage of Disclosure: $1000
Fees for advice: $3000
Total: $7000
Please make the payment of $7000 for the purpose of you pleading. I shall be highly obliged of you kindly make a 30% advance payment of the total amount billed.
Thanking You Dated:
Yours Sincerely
Solicitor
Thanking You Dated:
Yours Sincerely
Reference:
legalaid.qld.gov.au. 2019. Car Accidents. [online] Legalaid.qld.gov.au. Available at: <http://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/Find-legal-information/Cars-and-driving/Car-accidents> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Legalpediaqld.org.au. 2019. Time Limits Under The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) – Legalpedia Qld. [online] Available at: <http://www.legalpediaqld.org.au/index.php/Time_limits_under_the_Uniform_Civil_Procedure_Rules_1999_(Qld)> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Qls.com.au. 2019. What Documents On My File Are Privileged? — Queensland Law Society. [online] Available at: <https://www.qls.com.au/Knowledge_centre/Ethics/Resources/Legal_Professional_Privilege/What_documents_on_my_file_are_privileged> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Queensland Law Handbook Online. 2019. Claiming Compensation After A Motor Vehicle Accident. [online] Available at: <https://queenslandlawhandbook.org.au/the-queensland-law-handbook/health-and-wellbeing/accidents-and-injury/claiming-compensation-after-a-motor-vehicle-accident/> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Lawyers, D. and Burrows, 2019. What Is Your Duty Of Disclosure? | Brisbane Lawyers | Dundas Lawyers. [online] Brisbane Lawyers | Dundas Lawyers. Available at: <https://www.dundaslawyers.com.au/what-is-your-duty-of-disclosure/> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Austlii.edu.au. 2019. UNIFORM CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 2005. [online] Available at: <http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/ucpr2005305/> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Law.pace.edu. 2019. [online] Available at: <https://law.pace.edu/sites/default/files/IJIEA/primary_sources/Queensland_Uniform_Civil_Procedure_Rules_1999.pdf> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
MAIC. 2019. Home – MAIC. [online] Available at: <https://maic.qld.gov.au/> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Classic.austlii.edu.au. 2019. Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 – Reg 24. [online] Available at: <http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_reg/ucpr1999305/s24.html> [Accessed 23 September 201
Alternative applicable where documents are electronically managed (as where there are more than 500 disclosable documents), unless the parties otherwise agree in writing, or the Court otherwise orders.
SCHEDULE
Part 1
| Document ID | Document Type | Title** | # Author (Surname Initials) | #Author Organisation | #Recipient | #Recipient Organization | Date |
Part 2 – Documents for which privilege is claimed
| Document ID | Document Type | Title** | # Author (Surname Initials) | #Author Organisation | #Recipient | #Recipient Organization | Date |
**Optional field
#If multiple parties separate with a semicolon “;”
Signed:
Description:
Dates:
DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND
| REGISTRY: | Brisbane |
| NUMBER: | 2903/19 |
| Plaintiff: | CD |
| AND | |
| [First] Defendant: | AB |
| AND | |
| [Second Defendant:] | Driver of AB |
STATEMENT OF CLAIM
This claim in this proceeding is made in reliance on the following facts:
1. That the drive of AB was negligent in driving the vehicle and ran the vehicle violating the traffic rules.
2. That due to the sudden violation of the traffic rules by the Driver if AB, there has been a property damage which has been suffered by the Plaintiff CD.
3. That the car which the Driver of AB was driving was recognized in the incident report as black Porsche being registration number ‘STUD 1’.
4. That the car which was damaged due to the negligence of the driver of AB or the property of CD was 1969 GTO Ferrari.
5. That due to the negligence of the driver of AB the Plaintiff CD suffered a property damage and loss of $175,000
Therefore, the plaintiff claims the following relief:
1. That the Plaintiff claims a compensation of $175,000 as the value of property damage by the driver of AB.
2. In addition, the plaintiff shall be entitled for claiming the interest from the claimed amount from the date of accident at the rate of 10% P.A
3. The plaintiff shall also be entitled to claim the cost of issuing the claim and statement of claim.
Signed: (plaintiff or solicitor to sign)
Description: (of signatory eg. solicitor)
[This pleading was settled by (name)of Counsel].
NOTICE UNDER RULE 150(3)
The plaintiff claims:
$175,000
10% interest from the date of accident till the date of payment of compensation, and
$7,000 for costs of issuing the claim and this statement of claim.
The proceeding ends if you pay those amounts before the time for filing your notice of intention to defend ends. If you are in default by not filing a notice of intention to defend within the time allowed, the plaintiff is entitled to claim additional costs of $2,000, costs of entering judgment in default.
