header-logo header-logo

To plead or not to plead

01 May 2015 / Anna Pickering
Issue: 7650 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
printer mail-detail
nlj_may_1_pickering

Personal injury defendants with evidence of dishonesty will need to consider carefully whether to plead fraud, says Anna Pickering

When the court at first instance overturned the settlement in Hayward v Zurich Insurance Co Plc and held that Zurich could return to court to rescind the agreement where new evidence of fraud came to light, insurers breathed a sigh of relief.

Facts of the case

Colin Hayward brought a claim for £420,000 against his employer after suffering an injury at work. Zurich obtained covert surveillance evidence calling into question the extent of his residual injuries and made an offer of £134,973 in full and final settlement before the case came to trial. The settlement was concluded in an order approved by the court.

Three years later Zurich received information from Mr Hayward’s neighbours that he appeared to have suffered no lasting ill effects from the accident. Zurich returned to court to reclaim some of the damages from Hayward on the grounds of misrepresentations. The court ruled in Zurich’s favour, ordering Mr

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll