‘Videos show me walking and lifting while injured. Should I take insurer’s offer?’
Q
I HAD A nasty bike crash that stopped me from working; I fractured a wrist and shin. I am a plant operator in the building trade.
Court proceedings are about to start and my solicitors have had ‘served’ on them hours of video footage. They want me to take a low offer on the basis I have been exaggerating my injuries but the video evidence does not prove I am lying.
They say the problem is that I told my medical expert I could not carry heavy objects and my walking was limited. Videos show me lifting hay bales and carrying them into a barn, and hoisting a 10kg bag of horse feed on to my shoulder and walking 12 paces with it into a feed barn. There is another video showing me taking a large flat‑screen TV out of the back of my girlfriend’s car and carrying it for ten paces, and a video of me Christmas shopping.
The insurers have selectively picked out parts of my expert’s medical reporting – “Mr X says he is limited in lifting large or heavy objects and has difficulty moving items such as two‑litre bottles of drink on to a high shelf”, and “Mr X is limited to 500m of walking before he is pain and needs to rest”. I accept I said these things, but on my Christmas shopping day I had taken two ibuprofen and two paracetamol and I was in bits the following day and barely got out of bed.
The insurers have offered me £30,000 for my broken bones, nothing for loss of earnings past the first six months, and said: “If accepted we will not pursue any remedy for material dishonesty.” The videos don’t show me putting anything above head height. Should my solicitors push on or am I in difficulty?
A
SADLY, I THINK you are in difficulty – you are describing some quite extreme levels of restriction, over and above those for your pretty routine injury.
I do not accept your description of your injuries is honest. I note your shin injury repaired itself without an operation and your wrist fracture was described as uncomplicated. While it might be that you had a remarkable reaction to an ordinary set of injuries, the video evidence hugely undermines your credibility.
For you to show extraordinary consequences to a pair of ordinary injuries, your medicolegal surgeon needs to be backing you up, but he uses code words that clearly indicate he thinks there is not a lot wrong with you. I select some choice phrases: “Mr X’s reaction to stimuli is inconsistent.” And: “From an orthopaedic perspective, the limitation of range of movement of the wrist is not easily explained,” which has this little zinger on the end of it: “Upon distraction, the earlier exhibited restriction of motion was not evident.” He also says: “I can see no orthopaedic reason the wrist injury would limit range of movement in the shoulder.”
To an experienced lawyer, the surgeon is calling you out – and it is your side’s evidence. Combine this with the video evidence and I think you have been caught out, charitably, telling your expert the very worst your symptoms might be.
The insurers are making a generous offer. They are saying: “Without your exaggeration, we can see you’d have been off work for six months and the value of your two injuries are worth about £30k. You can have that, we won’t take up your flexible relationship with the truth, and we’ll call it a day.”
I think your solicitor is correctly advising you to take the money and run, without further consequences.
I wouldn’t go near your case. If you chose to press on you are certainly facing walking away with nothing – and a big bill from the insurer’s lawyers.
Your insurer does not have a reputation for relentlessly pursuing “material dishonesty” cases but people are sent to prison with some frequency for serious exaggeration of the consequences of injury.
Follow your lawyer’s advice. Take the money and run – and frankly, count your blessings. You are getting an average award for your real injuries. In other circumstances, you’d be getting nothing apart from a warning to pack a toothbrush and an overnight bag before you go to court.
White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors have been dealing with motorcycle claims since 1997 and are well recognised experts in the field. All of their lawyers ride — they get company bikes, not company cars. www.whitedalton.co.uk