Pascale Hicks persuades Court to engage Section 57 of CJCA 2015 and dismiss Claimant passenger’s claim following a finding of fundamental dishonesty at 3 day trial

Pascale Hicks persuades the Court to engage Section 57 of CJCA 2015 and dismiss the Claimant passenger’s claim, advanced in excess of £500,000, following a finding of fundamental dishonesty at a 3 day trial.

Pascale Hicks of Deans Court Chambers, instructed by DWF, secured a finding of fundamental dishonesty against a Claimant passenger involved a road traffic accident claim at Preston County Court on 9 October 2020, leading to the dismissal of his claim under section 57 of CJCA 2015, the recovery of costs on an indemnity basis and the disapplication of QOCS protection. Rather than recovering damages, the Claimant found himself having to make a payment on account of costs of £30,000.

The Defendant had conceded at an early stage both fault for the road traffic accident and that the Claimant had sustained genuine physical and psychological injuries - but Miss Hicks successfully argued that the Claimant had pursued an exaggerated claim for substantial losses, claimed at well in excess of £500,000.

His Honour Judge Dodd held that the Claimant, had “demonstrated a willingness to manipulate the evidence to his perceived advantage” and that “this was not a single lie or evasion in the heat of the moment, but a course of conduct he persisted in for months and only resiled from when pressed on the point at trial.” His Honour found that the Claimant had manipulated and withheld the disclosure of medical documents and reports because the evidence “didn’t suit him” and that he had no good answer for the multiple inconsistent contemporaneous medical records put to him in cross examination by Miss Hicks.

The case provides a timely reminder that courts will not shirk from dismissing dishonest claimant’s claims.