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06 November 2008
Issue: 7344 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Civil service

William Christopher explains why he recommends pursuing perpetrators of fraud in civil courts

An economy facing an impending recession has resulted not only in increased levels of fraud, but also in greater incidents of fraud being discovered. If a company is the victim of fraud there are two ways to deal with it.

The first, and most obvious option is to report the fraud to the police. However, this should not be the option chosen by a victim wishing to recover the money lost.

Instead, the victim should pursue the perpetrators of fraud through the civil courts. A solicitor acting for a victim has a focus on preserving and recovering assets. The prosecuting criminal authority’s primary interest is in securing a conviction. Any consideration of compensation is very much a secondary consideration, if considered at all. A powerful legal arsenal in the civil courts can be used to discover where the victim’s assets have gone and get them back.

Effective remedy
4Eng Limited v Harper and Another, [2007] EWCH 7568 (Ch), [2008] Times, 23 June, illustrates how

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NEWS
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

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