Aviva Insurance Limited v Atiquillar Nadeem and Masoud Sidiqi [2024] EWHC 3445 (KB) - Andrew Ratomski, Temple Garden Chambers
21/02/25. Date of judgment: 16 October 2024 (but recently published).
The judgment from HHJ Tindal sitting as a judge of the High Court in these recent contempt proceedings traverses significant ground on findings of fundamental dishonesty under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. I do not seek to summarise every aspect of the decision but I do wish to highlight the aspects that point to potential future areas of controversy in a rapidly developing area of personal injury practice.
The facts
The first defendant had brought a claim for personal injury arising from a road traffic accident on 14 April 2018 for which liability had been admitted and having claimed to have been a passenger who suffered minor whiplash injuries to his neck and back. The second defendant did not make a claim but did give a witness statement in support of that claim and said he was present in the vehicle. At a trial in the Count Court at Willesden on 3 June 2021 the first defendant gave evidence. His claim was found to be fundamentally dishonesty and the judge made findings to the criminal standard of proof following Spencer J’s decision in Aviva v Kovacic [2017] EWHC 2772 (QB).
The contempt grounds concerned alleged false statements to the...
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