Case Success - Personal Injury

Flintshire County Council received a claim for substantial damages after a pedestrian, in July 2021, claimed to have suffered a fall on Chester Road in Deeside, which allegedly caused him to suffer a variety of significant physical and psychological injuries.

The Council, in conjunction with their insurers (Zurich) and their solicitors (Forbes Solicitors) were unconvinced. The Council instructed their solicitors to embark upon detailed and forensic investigations into the alleged circumstances of the case. Numerous inconsistencies were identified, including the Claimant giving a variety of different accounts as to how the accident occurred with his story lacking any consistency.  Enquiries revealed that this alleged incident happened on his first day back at work after a 2-year absence following an earlier accident (for which he also presented a personal injury claim for damages), with this later accident keeping him off work for a further 6 months.  It was also considered noteworthy that the alleged accident occurred the day before the Claimant's birthday raising the possibility that any injuries could have been suffered celebrating that birthday. Social media investigations also revealed evidence which showed the Claimant participating in activities which he had told his medical expert he could not do due to his injuries clearly demonstrating an element of conscious exaggeration of his alleged symptoms.

These concerns were put to the Claimant during the litigation.  When it became apparent to the Claimant that the evidence against him was overwhelming and when it became obvious that no offers of compensation would be made, the Claimant discontinued his claim, saving the Council in excess of £115,000 as against the value of the damages and costs claimed. A spokesperson for the Council said that they take a zero-tolerance approach to insurance fraud which, if successful, would rob the public purse of significant sums of money. Fraudulent compensation claims divert stretched funds from the provision of public services for the community.