This site uses cookies.

PI Brief Update

What Is 'Fundamental Dishonesty' and How Will It Impact on Personal Injury Claims? - Karen Mann, Hodge Jones & Allen

15/06/15. In the Law Society Gazette (20th April 2015 issue) Jonathan Wheeler, the incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), wrote of his intention to turn the tables on insurers over 'fundamental dishonesty legislation'. The Government has recently implemented new rules which prevent a Claimant receiving compensation if they have been found to be fundamentally dishonest, unless the decision leads to substantial injustice (Criminal Injuries and Courts Act 2015).

What is fundamental dishonesty?

Where a Claimant had been dishonest in a personal injury claim, which is fundamental to the case, such as exaggeration of symptoms of the injury sustained in an accident then there is a possibility that the whole claim could be dismissed. There is no definition of fundamental dishonesty in the Act but in the Case of Gosling v Hailo & Screwfix (2014 County Court case) it includes significant exaggeration and/or misrepresentation of the extent of the ongoing symptoms...

Image ©iStockphoto.com/payphoto

Read more (PIBULJ subscribers only)...

All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.

Privacy Policy                 Legal Resources

© Copyright Law Brief Publishing Ltd, all rights reserved.
Published by Law Brief Publishing Ltd, company number 05966609, registered in the UK. Registered office address: 30 The Parks, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8BT.

All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.