Carpenters Group Defence Team Secures Win After Facebook Faux Pas
08 December 2025
Chris Dibb of Carpenters Group Defence Team has secured another finding of Fundamental Dishonesty, this time against a biker who told a medical expert that he couldn’t face the thought of riding a motorbike following an accident, despite racking up thousands of pounds in credit hire charges and advertising the purchase of a new Ducati on Facebook.
With the assistance of Martin Ferguson, of Farrar’s Building Chambers, the claim for hire charges was dismissed in full and the Claimant found to have been dishonest in the presentation of his primary claim for injury and associated treatment charges. In fact, from a claim pleaded at over £40,000 the only damages recovered was a small £330 charge for the recovery fee (and no costs).
Liability had been admitted by the Defendant and there was no question that the claim resulted from a genuine road traffic accident. However, there were significant concerns relating to the evidence the Claimant had presented to a psychologist on examination.
The Claimant had told the expert that such was his fear and discomfort about getting back on a motorbike that he had not ridden once since the accident, and questioned whether he will ever be able to do so. Despite his evidence to the expert in relation to the psychological impact of the accident, just a couple of days after the incident, he entered into a credit hire agreement for the hire of a replacement motorbike at close to £300 per day. In addition, he later posted an image on social media in which he pictured a high-performance motorbike he had just purchased, which he referred to as “the Beast”. This post was uploaded sometime prior to the examination with the psychologist.
Issues in relation to the way the claim had been presented were raised in the Defence and in the Updated Counter Schedule of Loss but went largely unanswered until trial where the Claimant said that he had used the replacement bike perhaps 5 – 10 times. This was significantly different to the account provided in his statement of case in which he said he needed a replacement motorcycle in order to get to and from work as well as for social, domestic and pleasure purposes both at the commencement of hire and throughout the period of hire.
In cross-examination, he accepted the Particulars of Claim were wrong and said he used the replacement bike but only for the commute and only 5-10 times in the hire period. He repeatedly said he did try to use the bike but as pointed out by Mr Ferguson the Particulars don’t say ’tried’, they say he did. The Claimant acknowledged that he knew what the experts were told would influence the court but that he didn’t think this claim would get that far.
In finding the Claimant dishonest, the judge said that the Defendant had not ambushed the Claimant and had set out their case in the Defence and in the Updated Counter Schedule which had not been answered until trial. The judge said that it’s not enough to say solicitors didn’t ask him, that is a matter between the Claimant and his solicitors. The reality was that he’d put his name to and signed statement of truth for documents which were manifestly incorrect.
In addition to the loss of the damages, the Claimant was also ordered re-pay the interim payments in addition to paying the Defendant’s costs.
It is worth remembering that this claim resulted from a genuine accident and the Claimant had probably sustained some injury. However, in the mistaken belief that he would never be called to court to justify his claim, the Claimant has sought to claim damages way in excess of what the claim was worth in reality.
Head of Defence, Kevin Perkins, said:
