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03 May 2024 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8069 / Categories: Features , Personal injury , Damages , In Court
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Personal injury: trying it on

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Personal injury claimants are well warned about dishonesty. Sadly, some don’t listen. Dominic Regan examines a wise judgment from a recent case
  • An examination of Williams-Henry v Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd [2024], in which Mr Justice Ritchie found ‘breathtaking’ dishonesty.

Very nearly £600,000. That is the amount of damages a claimant would have received had she not been fundamentally dishonest. In the event, she lost every penny. The magisterial judgment of Mr Justice Ritchie in Williams-Henry (by her mother and litigation friend Christel Williams) v Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd [2024] EWHC 806 (KB), [2024] All ER (D) 44 (Apr) is required reading for anyone involved in personal injury claims. Lawyers, doctors and others such as care experts will learn so much.

The claimant was genuine insofar as she was the victim of an accident, having suffered a moderately severe brain injury from a nasty fall off Aberavon Pier. Liability was settled at two-thirds in her favour. Sadly, she was ‘breathtakingly dishonest’, a description of part of her evidence found at para [106] of the judgment. That robust assessment

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