IF YOU BRING A FRAUDALENT CLAIM YOU COULD END UP BEHIND BARS

We have warned about the consequences of being dishonest in personal claim matters on various occasions but thought you could be aware that Insurers are not messing around and they are now bring committal proceedings pursuant to the new CPR 81  against Claimants who they believe have been dishonest.

In the case of RSA v Kosky (2013) QBD (Sir Raymond Jack) 07.03.13 the first application of its kind made pursuant to the new CPR Part 81, the applicant insurer applied for permission to commence committal proceedings for contempt of court against the respondent because she  caused her solicitors to sign a statement of truth in the Particulars of Claim knowing that it contained false statements (made by her). The particulars of claim did not reveal the respondent's relevant medical history. Further, the Schedule of Loss included claims for items that the respondent had already been compensated for in a previous claim arising from a previous injury.  Though in this instance the Insurers were refused permission to bring the committal proceedings the Court did express its view that the case demonstrated the need for an applicant to identify precisely the allegedly false statements upon which reliance was placed and state in what way the statements were said to be untrue.

The Insurers are not going to allow this to lie and I am sure will ensure that next time they do identify precisely the allegedly false statements upon which reliance was placed before bringing  a similar application before the Court. So Claimants BEWARE, if you lie, and it can be proved and the insurers can identify precisely the alleged false statements made by you, an application for a committal hearing could be successful, and, you might be facing imprisonment

This article is for information purposes only

Deborah Aloba - Affordable Law For You Limited