What are my rights to chase this debt?

Re: What are my rights to chase this debt?

Bob Russell — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:00:55 GMT

The Local Authority has the responsibility in this situation (for dog control, not the bill!) so a complaint about the dogs should be made to them. We are lucky in the New Forest that our dog wardens are pretty involved and generally have a good picture of the trouble-makers.

The Police will usually get involved only if there is injury to a person.

Re: What are my rights to chase this debt?

plantagenet — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:51:57 GMT

Thanks for your advice, in this case I'm not really worried about the money since the cat owner is a good client and will pay, I just wanted to help her if I could. We have a village bobby (unusually) but they seemed not to want/be able to do anything.

Re: What are my rights to chase this debt?

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:55:10 GMT

This situation arises on many occasions and IME the guilty party who blurts out that he/she will pay rarely does once the they see the clear light of day. I Always tell the victim in this situation that; whatever the other person says, they will be liable for the bill once they have given consent. The way I see it is that you accept the cat's owner's offer to pay and leave her to claim from the dog's owner, it is not really your problem, its hard but there's a time and place for philanthropism and this is not it, if you fall for every sob story you will have a hard time. However, if you're not as cynical as me and feel sorry for the cat's owner and don't ask her to pay I would kiss goodbye to the debt. If you're sure of your grounds you could start a county court action against the dog owner for the fees accumulated before the owner came on the scene but I wouldn't wait with bated breath, however you may gain some satisfaction that he will have a county court summons against his name which could affect his ability to get credit in the future. Sometimes it is just best to write it off as a bad experience but be twice shy next time.

Re: What are my rights to chase this debt?

Laurence Webb — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:35:18 GMT

There are 2 factors here. Who is liable to pay your bill and is the cat owner legally able to recover costs from the dog's owner.

My understanding is that it is the person who requests treatment who is liable to pay your fees, so the dog owner should pay you for immediate treatment, before the cat's owner was informed and authorised further treatment. From that point on I'd suspect that the cat owner is liable to pay your fees. Sounds like bit of a mess, although if the cat's owner is willing to pay you should get your money.

The cat's owner should be legally able to recover the costs of fees (plus a reasonable charge for costs and inconvenience) from the dog's owner as he is legally required to have the dog under control. If it ran out into a road and caused a crash the car's owner (or their insurance company) would pay the repair bills, but the insurance company would then get their money back from the dog owner. It's the same thing here.

I think the simplest answer would be to get the cat's owner to pay your entire bill (if they can afford that in the short term) but she should then lodge a small claims court action to recover the money from the dog's owner. She doesn't need a lawyer for this.

Ask her to write to him with the words 'Letter before action' at the top saying that she wants payment and stating a reasonable time for him to pay her (7 days should be sufficient) with the warning that, if payment is not received, court action will be taken. If he doesn't pay then she can lodge a claim via https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome for a small fee. The total she should claim should be your fees (including euthanasia and cremation, plus the cost of the claim +/- something for her own costs.

It's more than likely he will pay at this stage, but if not it can go to court. As long as she provides a decent statement that his dog caused the damage and witnesses can be found she probably wouldn't even have to go there herself. If required you could provide written testimony that he admitted it was his dog that caused the damage which should seal it.

I hope this is all correct, but I'm not a solicitor! Many solicitors run free surgeries to give advice for this sort of thing in the hope of drumming up business. Best to check first

Re: What are my rights to chase this debt?

Martin Jones — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:24:31 GMT

Really not that simple.

The agreement for payment was initially between you and the dog owner; any consent that the cat owner gave regarding treatment seems to have been in the full knowledge that she wasn't liable for the bill - and you seem to have proceeded on these terms. In fact, were you to take the cat owner to small claims, you might be unsuccessful in any case, as the contract that existed between you specifically excused her from the debt.

But where it all gets complicated is consent forms. If the dog owner didn't sign one, it doesn't make it impossible to pursue, but do understand that your partisan witnesses to verbal consent will be seen as just that. If the cat owner did subsequently sign one for any part of the treatment, it'll probably have a section on it relating to understanding that the bill must be paid before discharge etc. Unwittingly, you may both have formed a contract that makes her legally liable for the bill. Whilst you could, in hindsight, waive that, the dog owner would be perfectly entitled to use this as his defence against payment: whatever he verbally agreed to has been superseded by the subsequent written contract. You can't destroy a consent form, and he could get hold of it as evidence.

Which would rather take it out of the realms of small claims, given that some legal expertise would be necessary on both sides.

So, who signed what? Consent forms, always consent forms......