Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
16/01/2015
James Henry, instructed by Karen Mann of Greenwoods and Hastings Direct, represented the successful defendant at a 5-day fraud trial in Manchester.
Seven claimants who targeted an off-duty female Police Officer in Manchester by slamming on their brakes have had their claims for injury, credit hire, storage and recovery charges dismissed following findings of fraud.
The case is one of the first of its kind to deploy ‘black-box’ telematics data in court to support the defence that the claimants deliberately slammed on their brakes to induce a collision. The defendant applied for specific disclosure of telematics data collected by a black-box fitted in the claimants’ vehicle. There were two important data packages. Firstly, a GPS tracker showed that the claimants had driven up and down the same stretch of road for c.40 minutes before the collision. Secondly, the black-box was also fitted with an accelerometer that showed the severity and duration of the claimants’ braking in the seconds before the collision. After hearing evidence from the claimants’ insurer as to the purpose and effect of the telematics data, Mr Recorder Mcloughlin found that the data supported the defendant’s case that the braking manoeuvre was sudden, and not slow or gradual as contended by the claimants.
The claims were dismissed and the claimants have been ordered to pay the defendant’s costs on the indemnity basis.
