IN THE
NEWS...IN THE NEWS..
GODALMING DRIVER’S BOGUS PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM LANDS HIM MASSIVE COSTS BILL
A taxi driver has been found “funda- mentally dishonest” and ordered to pay costs of £11,169.72 after making a bogus personal injury claim against Admiral. The claim made by taxi driver Adrian Boeta, 29 was deemed: “wholly disingenuous” and an opportunistic at- tempt to seek unwarranted com- pensation”, under cross examination. The trial on 3 July in Guildford County Court was held via Skype. Admiral saved more than £9,500, after specialist law firm, Horwich Farrelly,
was appointed to defend the fraudu- lent claim. The court held that there was a “clear and un- equivocal” denial of injury, and with the signicant delay in bringing the claim it was deemed funda- mentally dishonest. In December 2015, an Admiral cus- tomer collided with the rear of Boeta’s taxi in a “substantial collision”, the vehi- cle was in turn shunted into the vehicle in front. Boeta, from God- alming, Surrey said in a telephone call to Admiral the day after the accident that he had not
been injured; how- ever three years later when he pre- sented an injury claim and associat- ed losses, concerns were raised. Admiral rejected the claim based on the recording of the call, but Boeta still began proceedings. This led to Horwich Farrelly being ap- pointed to defend it. Iain Simmons, from Admiral, said: ‘I am delighted with the outcome of our investigation and the stance we adopted with this case, which has ulti- mately resulted in defeating what was found to be a disin-
genuous claim. “We are sending out a strong message that other dishonest claimants can ex- pect an equally rigorous defence to their claims.” Boeta had alleged that in the call recording, he had been unsure as to whom he was speak- ing with at the time. He stated that he was unaware of the claims process and had in fact only decided to bring the claim after speaking with other taxi drivers. Meanwhile, two days prior to trial due to the ongoing pan- demic, the court
decided to hold the trial remotely. The law firm also put the court on notice of its inten- tion to seek a finding of funda- mental dishonesty against the claimant. The trial was held before DJ Murphy who found that there was a com- plete absence of any corroborative evi- dence in support of the alleged injury and that Boeta’s evi- dence was full of inconsistencies. James Boylan, fraud Partner at Horwich Farrelly, said: “This result demonstrates that, irrespective of the current pan-
demic, claimants who have pursued disingenuous claims may nevertheless be faced with findings of fundamental dis- honesty and sub- stantial adverse costs orders.” Mmmm… What a waste of court time, whether live or virtu- al. Does the punish- ment fit the crime? Meanwhile the claim- ant is a prime candi- date for Stupidity Award of the Year for having the rec- orded phone conver- sation with his insur- ers immediately fol- lowing the accident, in which he declared that he had not been injured. D’oh… Ed.
24
AUGUST 2020
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