Horwich Farrelly secures eight findings of fundamental dishonesty in single day

Horwich Farrelly has secured what it believes to be a record eight findings of fundamental dishonesty in a single day.

The firm says that the milestone was achieved on 18 August after it won four trials across the country, for four separate insurer clients. As a result of these findings, costs orders have been obtained across seven of the claims in excess of £23,000, with costs in the last case subject to assessment.

Mark Hudson, counter fraud partner at Horwich Farrelly, said: “When the concept of fundamental dishonesty was introduced, some commentators were quick to suggest that the sanction was of limited application in the fight against fraud.”

“With these results, which are almost certainly the most findings of fundamental dishonesty ever secured in a single day, we have shown this is demonstrably not the case.

“Having secured a market-leading 146 findings we, in partnership with our insurer clients, continue to highlight the very real risks of making bogus claims.”

The first four findings came from a case which involved personal injury claims worth around £11,500 for an alleged shunt in the car park of the Legoland theme park in Windsor.

Two other dishonest claimants were caught out after saying that they were suffering from debilitating injuries following a minor accident in Southall, West London. Medical records revealed that neither claimant had visited their GP after the incident, despite the second claimant apparently suffering from severe pain for up to six months.

The seventh fraudster submitted a claim for personal injury after a collision which he suggested was sufficient enough to shake his vehicle and cause him to be jolted in his seat.

However, the defendant’s account was that the claimant had simply misjudged the distance between the two vehicles while parking and, as a result, had only scraped a stationary vehicle.

The final case saw a claim for an alleged whiplash injury after a very minor collision at Dewsbury market. Suspicions were raised when investigations revealed that the claimant had made claims relating to nine other alleged accidents, with five of these allegedly having occurred since 2010.

Mark Dugdale