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.
06/04/2018
Edward Hutchin, instructed by Kirsty Taylor of Keoghs solicitors, represented the successful Defendant insurers in this fraud case. The Claimants claimed damages for personal injuries and losses allegedly sustained when the Defendant’s insured collided with the rear of the vehicle in which they were travelling as it left a roundabout.
A defence was filed disputing liability, occupancy and causation. In particular, the Defendant’s insured asserted that the Claimants’ vehicle had come to a halt unnecessarily, after a lead vehicle had cut across in front of it and driven away at speed. It was therefore alleged that the collision was deliberately induced, and the compensation claims false.
After a trial in Birmingham County Court before HHJ Truman, involving oral evidence from both Claimants and another passenger, and from the Defendant’s insured, the claims were dismissed. The Defendant relied on the evidence of its insured driver, but also served evidence from the Claimants’ insurers, producing telematics data from the Claimants’ vehicle showing that they had not travelled the route alleged, and had travelled twice around the roundabout before stopping prior to the collision. The Judge accepted the Defendant’s evidence and held that the claims were fundamentally dishonest, the Claimants’ having deliberately induced the collision and lied in court about it. The claims were therefore dismissed and an enforceable costs order, assessed on the indemnity basis, made in favour of the Defendant.
