A claimant who brought a whiplash case against insurers Admiral has been forced to pay back the costs of the trial after being found to have been fundamentally dishonest.
District Judge Dudley, at Southend County Court, found that there was no substance to the claimant's story that Admiral's customer had driven into the back of the claimant and caused him severe whiplash injuries.
Admiral's customer maintained that there had been no contact between the two vehicles and the District Judge found in his favour, saying that he had no doubt that the claimant had been fundamentally dishonest.
The claimant lost the protection of qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) and was ordered to pay the costs of the trial, which amounted to £6,000. He also had to pay an additional £1,000 to cover the costs of the application DJ Dudley required before he was prepared to make his ruling on dishonesty.