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Critically injured man vindicated in fraud case
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A critically injured man today won his fight to retain compensation awarded 3 years ago against insurer Direct Line.
Mark Noble, 43, of Wareham, Dorset sustained life threatening and grievous injuries in an accident in September 2003.
The case was most unusual because after an earlier trial, an insurance company was accusing the injured party of lying about the extent of his injuries, as opposed to how they came about. Judgment was handed down against Direct Line in favour of Mark Noble which said:
Conclusion
At the time of the quantum trial, Mr Noble was determined to try to walk unaided and may have been confident that somehow he would succeed in doing so, but he did not dishonestly conceal from the court or the expert witnesses his then true state of disability or dishonestly emphasise his disability. The claim that he dishonestly misled the court at the quantum trial is accordingly dismissed.
Mr Noble was awarded £3.4million damages by Mr Justice Field in March 2008 after motorist Martin Owens admitted liability for the September 2003 accident, in which Mr Noble was knocked off his motorcycle on the A336 in Hampshire.
Before the trial, Direct Line arranged video surveillance in an unsuccessful attempt to show Mr Noble was exaggerating his injuries. At the trial, they also attacked his credibility as a witness by accusing him of lying about various aspects of his claim. In spite of these attacks, Mr Justice Field found that Mr Noble’s evidence as to the impact of the injuries on his daily life was truthful. The judge said Mr Noble, a builder by trade, could no longer work and needed daily care after a “severe and life-threatening” fracture to his pelvis left him with considerable pain, serious ongoing disabilities so that he was dependent on a wheelchair and crutches and developed a serious psychiatric disorder.
However, in the months following the judgment, Direct Line arranged fresh surveillance of him after it received information that Mr Noble was apparently not as seriously injured as he claimed. Relying on this evidence, and medical evidence said to be the only realistic interpretation of it, they forced the grievously injured Mr Noble to defend himself in a second trial in which they claimed Mr Noble had lied about the extent of original injuries. This too has now been judged to have had no basis and the original judgment has been confirmed.
His solicitor David Williams, from RWPS Law, said:
"After three uncertain and troubling years it is at last time for Mark Noble to get on with his life. Over a year ago the majority of his damages were frozen meaning that he was unable to put in place many of the arrangements he wanted to so that he could get on with his life following these devastating injuries. He and his partner have had to endure a second trial in which they were accused of lying but their account has been accepted and the challenge to the award rejected. . It is a victory of sorts for Mark's integrity to be vindicated but he will never have the life he had before the accident and the extra pain and suffering he has had to endure. This is a most unusual case which has taken considerable fortitude on the part of Mark and his partner to fight. We are naturally pleased that a just result has been achieved.”
Critically injured man vindicated in fraud case
- Outer Temple Chambers
- Gerard McDermott QC and Cara Guthrie
- United Kingdom
- March 24 2011
-
Author page » Author page » A critically injured man today won his fight to retain compensation awarded 3 years ago against insurer Direct Line.
Mark Noble, 43, of Wareham, Dorset sustained life threatening and grievous injuries in an accident in September 2003.
The case was most unusual because after an earlier trial, an insurance company was accusing the injured party of lying about the extent of his injuries, as opposed to how they came about. Judgment was handed down against Direct Line in favour of Mark Noble which said:
Conclusion
At the time of the quantum trial, Mr Noble was determined to try to walk unaided and may have been confident that somehow he would succeed in doing so, but he did not dishonestly conceal from the court or the expert witnesses his then true state of disability or dishonestly emphasise his disability. The claim that he dishonestly misled the court at the quantum trial is accordingly dismissed.
Mr Noble was awarded £3.4million damages by Mr Justice Field in March 2008 after motorist Martin Owens admitted liability for the September 2003 accident, in which Mr Noble was knocked off his motorcycle on the A336 in Hampshire.
Before the trial, Direct Line arranged video surveillance in an unsuccessful attempt to show Mr Noble was exaggerating his injuries. At the trial, they also attacked his credibility as a witness by accusing him of lying about various aspects of his claim. In spite of these attacks, Mr Justice Field found that Mr Noble’s evidence as to the impact of the injuries on his daily life was truthful. The judge said Mr Noble, a builder by trade, could no longer work and needed daily care after a “severe and life-threatening” fracture to his pelvis left him with considerable pain, serious ongoing disabilities so that he was dependent on a wheelchair and crutches and developed a serious psychiatric disorder.
However, in the months following the judgment, Direct Line arranged fresh surveillance of him after it received information that Mr Noble was apparently not as seriously injured as he claimed. Relying on this evidence, and medical evidence said to be the only realistic interpretation of it, they forced the grievously injured Mr Noble to defend himself in a second trial in which they claimed Mr Noble had lied about the extent of original injuries. This too has now been judged to have had no basis and the original judgment has been confirmed.
His solicitor David Williams, from RWPS Law, said:
"After three uncertain and troubling years it is at last time for Mark Noble to get on with his life. Over a year ago the majority of his damages were frozen meaning that he was unable to put in place many of the arrangements he wanted to so that he could get on with his life following these devastating injuries. He and his partner have had to endure a second trial in which they were accused of lying but their account has been accepted and the challenge to the award rejected. . It is a victory of sorts for Mark's integrity to be vindicated but he will never have the life he had before the accident and the extra pain and suffering he has had to endure. This is a most unusual case which has taken considerable fortitude on the part of Mark and his partner to fight. We are naturally pleased that a just result has been achieved.”
