Gosling v Hailo & Screwfix Direct (2014) unreported, Cambridge County Court, 29 March – Law Journals

Conduct: Lying to the court

In the second of two articles, Suzanne Chalmers and Jack Macaulay report on dishonesty in the presentation of a claim ‘Claims that are entirely concocted are legally straightforward – if the truth is discovered, the claim will fail; if not, it will succeed. The law has had more difficulty in responding to claims where there …

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Costs: The limits of dishonesty

Paul Jones looks at the effect of fundamental dishonesty on QOCS ‘A claimant who brings an unsuccessful personal injury claim will only lose their protection against adverse costs if they have passed beyond dishonesty into the murkier realms of “fundamentally dishonest”.’ The American lawyer Clarence Darrow (most famous for his role in the Scopes Monkey …

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Qualified One Way Costs Shifting: Blind men and elephants?

Patrick West explores the test of fundamental dishonesty ‘There is a sliding scale and where inconsistencies reach a certain level, subject to judicial instinct, only then is fundamental dishonesty reached.’ In the film Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow said: Me I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly …

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Disability: Handling chronic pain claims

Nicholas Baldock discusses the factors courts take into account when considering chronic pain claims ‘Claimants should be warned of the dangers of exaggerating any element of their claim and client care letters may need to spell out those dangers as diplomatically as possible.’Whether acting for the defendant or claimant, chronic pain cases can and do …

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RTA: Where are we now?

Andrew Mckie considers future developments in RTA claims, reducing fraud and costs ‘It is too early to tell how effective the system will be in reducing fraud in whiplash claims, given the system has only been implemented for a number of months and time will tell whether there is a reduction in fraudulent whiplash claims.’ …

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High-Value Damages: Managing chronic pain claims

Nina Goolamali advises on how to approach chronic pain cases ‘In order to litigate [chronic pain claims] effectively, advisors should obtain early and extensive disclosure, commit to front loading costs and select the expert team carefully in order to assess the evidential strengths and weaknesses at the first available opportunity.’ The 12th edition of the …

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QOCS: A costly situation

Gareth Price explores the situations in which QOCS protection might be forfeited ‘Where the “claim” is found, on the balance of probabilities, to be fundamentally dishonest, an order for costs may be enforced to the full extent with permission from the court.’ The effect of qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) is that any costs order …

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