High Court win against ‘cash for crash’ insurance fraudster

AXA Corporate Solutions have achieved a significant High Court success against a ‘cash for crash’ fraudster.

The case of Locke v Stuart and AXA CS concerned one of a number of accidents involving cars on short term hire on the Wirral. The claim for damages was dismissed and Mr Locke ordered to pay the costs of the action after Judge Edis QC ruled that the claim was part of an insurance scam.

Judge Edis QC ruled that "this 'accident' was not an accident at all but was manufactured in order to justify the making of 9 claims for damages for personal injuries which it spawned, of which this was one".

In relation to a number of other similar accidents, which did not involve the parties in this case, he held there was very cogent evidence which proved on balance of probabilities there was a “series of fraudulent accidents”.

Stuart Smith, Head of Fraud at Weightmans, who advised AXA Corporate Solutions commented “Fraud in the self drive hire sector continues to be prevalent and this is a significant win. It also illustrates the importance of detecting this type of fraud and the effective defence of it in the Courts.”