Representing a Claimant in a belated PI claim

Lavinia represented the Claimant who brought a claim against the Defendant for injuries sustained in a road traffic accident involving the Defendant’s insured. The accident itself was a low impact accident, which occurred when the Claimant was stationary in her motorcar and was hit by the Defendant’s insured, a motorcycle driving at around 30mph. Liability was admitted but the Claimant was put to proof as to causation.

The Defendant highlighted that there was no injury to the driver of the motorcycle and the damage to the car was minor- consisting of a small scratch.

The Judge found that the Claimant had not suffered any personal injury, highlighting that the Claimant did not start a personal injury claim until some months later, after being contacted by a solicitors firm. Furthermore they had sought no medical intervention despite having attended the GP on multiple occasions during the relevant period.

Despite the Judge questioning the Claimant’s credibility as a witness and finding severe holes in the evidence, Lavinia successfully argued that the Claimant was not fundamentally dishonest. Lavinia made successful arguments following the principles established in Gosling. The Judge agreed with Lavinia and made no finding on fundamental dishonesty.