Stag-partygoers fined £68,000 after injury fraud

A group of 17 men who were on a stag party have been ordered to pay a combined £68,000 in legal fees to LV= GI.

The case was based on a minor collision which occurred outside Chester in July 2015. The men were making their way to a stag-do at Chester Racecourse in a hired minibus.

An LV= policyholder was involved in a brush collision with the minibus, but the damage to both vehicles was minimal.

When the vehicles parked up to exchange details, some of the passengers got out and mimed injuries to their necks. One even joked that he’d “already won” before arriving at the racecourse.

The two drivers asked all the passengers whether they were injured and when they all said that they were not, the drivers left the scene.

LV= then received 20 personal injury claims from the passengers, leading the insurer to launch an investigation.

After looking at social media, LV= found pictures of the group enjoying their day at the racecourse.

LV= also had the vehicles inspected to determine whether the damage could be consistent with a force great enough to injure. The inspection concluded that it wasn’t possible.

By the time the matter reached trial in September 2017, two of the claimants had dropped out. Another was unable to attend the trial; his claim was dismissed without a finding of fundamental dishonesty.

Martin Milliner, director of Claims at LV=, said: “Fraud doesn’t pay, so we’re glad that these would-be fraudsters have been found out and will now have to repay our costs. We always take a tough stance against those who try to defraud us and will pursue false claims to the very end. These conmen should have waited until they got to the racecourse before they tried to gamble on a longshot.”

Ben Leech, Keoghs partner who worked on the case with LV=, said:

“The high number of claimants and flagrant attempt to defraud LV= to the tune of £400,000 means this judgment lays down an important marker in the fight against insurance fraud. 17 findings of fundamental dishonesty is the right result, and just reward for the hard work carried out by the teams at Keoghs and LV=.”