CONSEQUENCES OF AN EXAGGERATED PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM

June 1st, 2010 admin

A car mechanic, who injured two of his fingers while repairing a police car, recently won around £400,000 in personal injury compensation from the Metropolitan police. Alexander Darg had claimed in the region of £1M in compensation after lacerating himself on a knife which was stuck down the driver’s seat of the police car he was working on.

Mr Darg was hurt in 2002 at Limehouse police station in London, where he was examining an airbag fault. His wedding ring had to be cut away and he needed a number of stitches to close the wound. A couple of years after the accident he had to give up work after being diagnosed with “complex regional pain syndrome”.

Liability was admitted by the Metropolitan police, but what were disputed were the extent of the injury and the amount of compensation that it was reasonable to pay. The Court was shown video which the police said showed that Mr Darg had exaggerated his disabilities and they argued that he should only receive damages for superficial cuts.

The judge accepted that Mr Darg’s disabilities had been exaggerated to a degree but decided that he had not falsely pretended to have symptoms which did not exist.

COMMENT:-

A claimant is entitled to recover the best award of compensation for the injuries and financial losses he or she has suffered due the neglect of the other party. Here, this was the police service which was responsible for whichever of their employees had left the knife down the side of the seat.

Sometimes claimants are accused of over claiming, as in this case, or claiming falsely both with regard to injuries they have not had and financial losses not suffered. The latter is very serious and there have been a number of cases where people who have done this have ended up in prison for fraud. Do not be one of them.

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM SOLICITORS:-

If you have suffered any form of accident or contracted an industrial disease contact personal injury claims specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors for immediate legal advice, to find out if you are entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation. All cases are conducted on a Free No Win No Fee claims basis, where you keep 100% of the compensation recovered.

Call now on 0800 138 1348 to speak direct to one of our specialist claims solicitors or go to our Start Your Claim Now page to submit details of your accident compensation claim online.