Stag party fraud exposed by LV= and Keoghs as a massive 17 claims found fundamentally dishonest

A stag party claiming whiplash after a minor collision have had their claims dismissed yesterday as fundamentally dishonest. The finding was a huge success for LV= and defendant law firm, Keoghs, who saw their investigation result in a saving of over £400,000 for the insurer.

The executive coach, containing over 20 passengers in various stages of inebriation on their way to a pre-wedding celebration at Chester races, was involved in a minor clip with the defendant’s car. This was an impact which, it was successfully argued, would barely have registered with the occupants of the coach, let alone cause a raft of soft tissue injuries.

However the party from Wigan decided to hedge their bets early, with the insured driver witnessing several claimants joke that they’d already won before even reaching the races. Despite the supposed injuries the entire party continued to Chester and then proceeded to a night out back in Wigan.

On Sunday and Monday the claimants headed en masse to A&E and their GPs, following which all claims but one were lodged by the same solicitor, with medical evidence stating they were shunted sideways by the impact with the car.

LV= quickly identified the claims as requiring further investigation at which point Keoghs began to examine the issues surrounding the case.

The claimants’ medical evidence all exhibited glaring inconsistencies, with full neck movement apparent when attending a medical expert in the morning, yet displaying virtually no movement at all when attending a physio in the afternoon.

Suggestions that the impact wouldn’t have moved passengers in the coach also resulted in a highly suspicious revision, with the claimants altering their story to allege that the coach driver slammed on, causing the whiplash.

Support statements from family and friends were submitted across the board, a tactic which backfired spectacularly on the eve of the trial when Keoghs obtained an admission from one such partner (who had since parted ways with the claimant) that he was lying about his injury and was simply “jumping on the band wagon”.

Whilst two of the 19 claims submitted didn’t make it to trial, the inconsistencies from the 17 remaining claimants continued unabated at Liverpool County Court.

One, who originally said that he had suffered neck and back pain on the Sunday morning, stated during cross-examination that he had first noticed neck pain on the Monday whilst lifting 100 kilos at the gym, and back pain on the Wednesday when lifting 40 kilos at work. When it was suggested that the lifting may have caused the pain, he agreed.

Given the weight of evidence suggesting the claims were false, His Honour Judge Gregory found all 17 to be fundamentally dishonest, saving LV= a mammoth £400,000.

Ben Leech, Keoghs partner who worked on the case, was delighted with the result, saying;

“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=.”

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.”