Insurer's dishonesty claims rebuffed

Cathy suffered a soft tissue injury to her neck when another driver pulled out of a car park and crashed into her.

Although the defendant admitted liability, their insurers disputed both Cathy’s injuries and her financial losses – in particular they accused Cathy of dishonesty about the impact the injury had had on her role as an exercise teacher.

Having instructed Fosters Solicitors, we obtained expert medical opinion which combined with Cathy’s own witness evidence at trial, convinced the judge who dismissed the defendant’s arguments and found in Cathy’s favour.

Cathy was awarded £2,620 in damages, plus her legal costs.

Cathy’s case

Our client, Cathy, was hit by a third-party driver who pulled out of a car park and crashed into her.

As a result of the impact, Cathy felt the side of her neck go into a ‘spasm’, becoming stiff and experiencing a dull ache and a ‘heavy’ feeling in her head.

On instructing Fosters Solicitors, an expert GP was contacted to provide a medical report which detailed and commented on the extent of the injuries sustained as a result of the collision.

Cathy was very active prior to the accident and regularly taught exercise classes. As a result of the accident, her ability to teach her classes was impacted, however, she was still able to do so at a lower intensity level. She would regularly promote the class on social media and continued to do so after the accident.

Fault for the accident was admitted in full by the defendant, however, both causation and quantum were disputed. The insurers instructed specialist fraud solicitors to defend the claim, and asserted that Cathy was dishonest, having searched her social media and seen various posts relating to her exercise classes. Fosters Solicitors prepared a detailed witness statement for Cathy setting out in detail what she could and could not do in respect of the exercise classes.

The case proceeded to trial and Cathy was able to give evidence. Following which, the judge dismissed the defendant’s arguments of dishonesty and found in Cathy’s favour, awarding her £2,620 in damages plus her legal costs.

Commenting on the matter, Chris Turner, Deputy Head of Personal Injury at Fosters Solicitors, said, “I was delighted to achieve this result for Cathy. The accusations of fraud from the insurers and their solicitors were unfounded and baseless.

“As the insurers refused to negotiate a settlement to fairly compensate Cathy, she had no option but to proceed to trial and I am pleased the judge considered her a credible witness and found in her favour.”