It is important to make you aware of a key tactic used by Defendants during personal injury claims. The use of surveillance by insurers to record the lives of injured Claimants is becoming increasingly common. Of course, such surveillance is important to prevent fraud but in some cases surveillance evidence is used to cast doubt on Claimant’s credibility, which could have a serious impact on the value of a compensation claim.

Surveillance is used to try to catch the Claimant out and record them doing something that they have said they could not do. Surveillance tactics are predominantly used when Claimants are visiting the Defendant’s experts in the hope it establishes that the Claimant is exaggerating the impact of their injuries.

It is important to remember that whilst surveillance is undertaken frequently, most exploits will fail to secure anything incriminating because the surveillance experts will see a genuine Claimant struggling to cope with their life changing injuries. However, if a Claimant is found to be exaggerating or lying and evidence is obtained that undermines the Claimant’s case, any damages they were entitled to can be substantially reduced. If the footage gives rise to allegations of fraud and a finding of fundamental dishonesty, the claim may be dismissed and expose the Claimant to liability for the Defendant’s legal costs as well as their own.

If you would like more information about your Personal Injury claim, please contact Richard Harriman by email or on 01494 521301.