UPDATE 2022: HELP -False Personal Injury Claim

AlfieWilko1950

As others have said , there's nothing you can do.
The chances are that you will have to declare this for several years and your premiums may rise .
You have no contol over this so just let your insurer deal with it.

Sandtree

m344 said:

But another problem is that apparently, the solicitors firm won't speak to insurance companies -it's their policy. 

Then the law firm won't get paid

You have a legal representative in the form of your insurance company. The third party and their legal representatives have a legal obligation to attempt to settle the claim before court, act reasonably etc. If they have a policy to not talking to legal representatives they are clearly in breach of this obligation and therefore would be at significant risk of not having costs awarded were it to be litigated and the insurer highlight this policy to the courts attention.

No sensible solicitor will have this policy, many however will send certain threatening letters to the defendant directly rather than the insurer in the hope to somewhat scare the defendant and hope they get onto the phone to the insurer and get them to just settle etc or make them shivvy things along.

es5595

Would it be possible for the OP (after speaking with their insurer who I imagine are also rightly fed up) to issue a cease and desist/harassment letter to the “solicitor” ?

Something along the lines of ‘I now consider this harassment as you refuse to speak to my nominated legal representatives. As has been shown to you, these claims are false. XX and XX have a relationship going back over a decade, along with messages from XX after the accident admitting fault. Either issue a court claim, or don’t contact me again’

TELLIT01

The OP should not have any direct contact with either the claimant or their solicitor.  Everything must be done through their own insurance company or their representative.  The other party's solicitors are clearly 'difficult' which is yet another reason not to get involved with them.

davidmcn

es5595 said:

Would it be possible for the OP (after speaking with their insurer who I imagine are also rightly fed up) to issue a cease and desist/harassment letter to the “solicitor” ?

Something along the lines of ‘I now consider this harassment as you refuse to speak to my nominated legal representatives. As has been shown to you, these claims are false. XX and XX have a relationship going back over a decade, along with messages from XX after the accident admitting fault. Either issue a court claim, or don’t contact me again’

The OP hasn't suggested there's been any sort of unreasonable degree of contact by the solicitor though.

swingaloo2

m344 said:

hi @finalfantasist mostly the below
1. This claim could cause my premiums to rise and I will have to declare for the next 5 years.
2. A family friend was in an accident which went to court and she had to appear. (Also the third party brought a false witness and they won the case) I have not been to court before and would not want the stress and anxiety of it all. Especially over something I know did not even happen.

You will have to declare the claim either way, there is nothing you can do about that.

m344

They had been non-stop trying to harass me via phone but I blocked all of the numbers and now no longer answers I don't recognize so I have managed to avoid them. I'm still getting them but just ignoring. 

@swingaloo I'm under the impression that if the claim is thrown out/rejected/refused I will only have to declare it as an accident but not a claim -if it is proved fraudulent). But I could be wrong about this as I'm just going by what the insurer has said and I can't find a clear answer online. If he's found at fault then that's different and I still need to declare but as a non-fault. Additionally, when declaring a claim it specifically asks if anybody was injured seems unfair I'd have to declare an injured party on a claim for the next 5 years when honestly no one was injured.

davidmcn

A claim is a claim, so you still need to declare it - they will take into account what the outcome (if any) was.

m344

Hi all.

Late I know but wanted to update you. First of all, thanks for your advice.

The third party submitted an "independent" witness statement and I found proof they were friends going back 10 years+ and was all made up. I'm talking pages of proof -the witness would have been at work that day etc and had I hard evidence they were bff's. Videos, pictures the lot. My insurer passed this on and heard no answer from the third party. It literally went dead for a year so they have recorded its as a non-fault claim.

But I'm wondering if the fact they could prove fraudulent information had been given means I could have it struck off instead of non-fault? It was clearly fraudulent but is it fair that they have still called it a "claim". I've seen other cases with the exact same strong evidence get struck off people's records.

For those that said leave it to Churchill -a big no no. They were rubbish and had to be spoon fed the information. A simple google search of the witness and third parties name lead me to everything which apparently Churchill could not do. While recording to as non-fault they also it could also be reopened in three years if they hear back blah blah blah. I think I should challenge them and wondered if anyone has any advice? Since I have proof it was made-up I recon I am in a strong position...

tasticz

the lawyers sound like a chancers. they're scared to talk to the insurance company yet keep calling you hoping you tell your insurance company to pay up.

may be they think by not talking to insurance companies the insurers will get fed up of having open cases and pay up and go away. hopefully they don't do this.

you need to declare the incident as "at fault" until this is all resolved. get your paperwork together and keep sharing with your insurance case handler of your findings.

i think the other driver may end up in deep trouble if it goes to court


Churchill needs to pass it to the fraud department who can do what needs to be done to defend the case.