Fraudulent claim

(1) Wasim Ul-Haq (2) Samara Khatoon (3) Zahida Parveen v Anita Shah [2008] EWHC 1896 QBD Birmingham 31 July

The first and third claimants issued claims against the defendant for personal injuries allegedly sustained in a road traffic accident when the car in which they claimed to have been travelling had collided with a car driven by the defendant. Liability for the collision was admitted but the defendant counterclaimed seeking a declaration that the second claimant had not been in the car at the time of the accident, damages for deceit from the first and second claimants, and the striking out of the first claimant’s claim because he had been complicit in the fraudulent assertion that the second claimant had been a passenger. The judge found that the second claimant’s claim was fraudulent and that the first claimant had conspired with her to present a fictitious claim.. However, he found that a judgment in favour of the first claimant’s on his own claims would be safe and dismissed the counterclaim. Because of their deceitful conduct he ordered the first two defendants to pay two-thirds of the defendant’s costs of defending their claims on the indemnity basis. The defendant appealed on the grounds that the first claimant’s claims should have been struck out under the CPR 3.4(2).