Fundamental Dishonesty, Identifying and Managing Fraudulent Claims

David Sandiford of Cobden House Chambers will deliver a seminar-style presentation addressing the concept of “fundamental dishonesty” as a tool in the Defendant’s armoury. David will chart the changes in the litigation landscape that have denied successful defendants the opportunity to recover their costs. Against that inequality David will also give understanding and insight into how defendants can “level the playing field” in those cases where the Claimant has just been too ambitious, pursuing a fraudulent or heavily exaggerated claim for compensation.

The seminar will be followed by an engaging and interactive “workshop” where Chris Gough of Mills and Reeve explores some of the key trigger points or “fraud indicators” that can sometimes be spotted very early on in the life of a claim. Deploying those indicators will then help the audience gear a suitable strategy for defending that case. By using the example of a genuine but misguided claim the audience will be able to test their own wits in trying to identify the “red flags”, develop their own sense of strategic awareness and ultimately decide on what level of resource should be deployed in challenging a high value but suspicious claim.

Learning Objectives

• Raising knowledge and awareness of
o Qualified one way costs shifting
o Fundamental dishonesty as a concept in procedural law
o Interplay between the two
• Improved understanding of the procedural steps to be taken where FD is suspected
• Ensuring realistic expectations of what can be achieved by a finding of FD at trial
• Detailed consideration of practical tools that will help identify potentially fraudulent claims
• Applying analysis and strategic thinking in real-life claims scenario to build robust defence of a dubious claim