Keoghs and LV= celebrate joint Insurance Fraud Awards win

The tenacious pursuit of a landmark Supreme Court ruling was recognised at last night’s Insurance Fraud Awards, with Keoghs and LV= collecting the Combatting Fraud – Collaboration of the Year award.

Cameron v Hussain & LV= was fought through district and circuit judges before going to the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court, whose emphatic and unanimous judgment was of huge importance to the insurance industry in terms of compensating victims of untraced drivers.

The case centred round a driver of a vehicle involved in a road traffic accident, who was never identified after immediately fleeing the scene. The vehicle showed on the Motor Insurers Database as insured by LV= and the claimant sought damages from the registered keeper of the vehicle and LV= on that basis.

Keoghs and LV= fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to defend the established position on untraced drivers and thereby protect the interests of insurers and their customers.

This challenge to the long-established purpose of the Untraced Drivers Agreement struck at the heart of a core role of the MIB, whilst potentially opening the door to fabricated or exaggerated claims being brought against insurers in cases where a policy of insurance had been created fraudulently and solely for that purpose.

The Supreme Court’s judgment unequivocally underlined that the current framework for compensating the victims of untraced drivers is indeed fit for purpose and compliant with European Law.

Keoghs Partner Danny Newton, who headed up the case for Keoghs, was delighted with the award, saying;

“This landmark ruling was a truly collective effort between the counter-fraud teams at Keoghs and LV=, so to win the Collaboration of the Year award is particularly satisfying for all involved. This was a long fight which had a significant impact on the industry as a whole, and to receive recognition from the Insurance Fraud Awards is the cherry on the cake, following the Supreme Court’s judgment.”

The Keoghs Healthcare-Enabled Fraud team was also left celebrating last night after being highly commended in the Independent Fraud Investigation Team category for its work at the forefront of the industry’s fight against claims layering via medical professionals.