Fraud continues to cost the UK insurance industry billions of pounds each year. According to the Association of British Insurers, some 125,000 dishonest insurance claims were detected in 2016 alone with an overall value of £1.3 billion. While insurers continue to invest millions in fraud prevention and detection measures, more must be done not simply to root out claims dishonesty but to ensure the claimants and any other parties involved pay the costs.
At Crawford Legal Services, our pioneering approach means our lawyers and the Crawford claims teams work side-by-side to handle an extensive range of claims situations. By seamlessly combining our eagle-eyed legal experts with our highly-experienced loss adjusting specialists, we have achieved considerable success in bringing fraudulent claims activity to light and securing the recovery of associated costs both from claimant and third parties operating on their behalf.
Two cases in point
Two recent cases ably demonstrate this. In the first claims situation, our team quickly established that not only had the claimant lied in their submission but also that their solicitor’s handling of the case was so fundamentally flawed that they should be directly responsible for the payment of the costs we had incurred in challenging the claim.
In the second instance, the team was able to establish that the claimant had failed to provide relevant evidence and further that invoices used to support their claim had in fact been created after the incident took place. The court in this case took the unusual step of not only recognising the dishonesty on the part of the claimant, but also exposing the third parties whose evidence the claimant had relied upon to the payment of our costs. This was a significant development and one that the team is extremely proud of. Satisfying the court that a third party not directly involved in proceedings can be made to pay the costs of the case is no easy undertaking, yet our experts have proved themselves more than capable of the task.
Taking it further
Cases of fundamental dishonesty demand a rapid and robust response. Increasingly, our clients are showing a willingness to pursue criminal proceedings in instances such as these. The Crawford Legal Services team is there to help them take the necessary steps.
Through our team, Crawford is able to provide both technical and legal claims handling support across the UK. The success of this unified approach is paying dividends as we help our clients achieve speedier claims resolution, reduce overall legal costs, and also stamp out instances of fraudulent activity.
