Ecclesiastical celebrates justice in exaggerated fraud case

Ecclesiastical Insurance is celebrating following a decision by Bradford County Court to strike out a taxi driver’s personal injury claim after he attempted to triple its value by including a fraudulent claim for credit hire.

In the case of Hussain -v- Zahar (Bradford County Court, 11th March 2009), the claimant was also ordered to pay the defendant’s costs of in excess of £24,000 on an indemnity basis - sending out a clear warning to fraudsters to think twice before inflating the value of genuine claims through exaggeration.

The claim followed a road traffic accident between two taxis in 2006.

This was handed to law firm Keoghs whose Counter Fraud Services team confirmed Ecclesiastical’s suspicions by discovering a number of inconsistencies in the hire claim.

While the claim included charges for a hire vehicle to be used as a taxi, enquiries confirmed it was in fact not insured for this purpose.

At the trial, the claimant made a number of significant admissions, including that he had not made use of the vehicle for the entire hire period and had only used it for social, domestic and pleasure purposes.

As a result, the Judge ruled that the claimant had allowed himself to be involved in a fraud - and that even though the injuries he had suffered were genuine, the Judge exercised his discretion to strike out the entire claim under Civil Procedures Rules 3.4 and ordered that the claimant pay the defendant’s costs on an indemnity basis.

Simon Arundel, risk manager at Ecclesiastical, said: “The message from this case is clear - if you are considering exaggerating a genuine insurance claim, don’t do it! Fraudulent exaggeration of a genuine claim can and will lead to claims being kicked out.”

Asim Butt, partner in Keoghs’ Counter Fraud Services team, said: “Historically, credit hire claims have not always been fully scrutinised and so have created a potential avenue for abuse - but as insurers work with specialist suppliers to develop increasingly robust counter-fraud procedures, they are leaving no stone unturned in their fight against insurance fraud.”

Anyone with any information related to insurance fraud should call the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s free and confidential Cheatline on 0800 3282550 or report online at www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report.