Mark Solon provides a reminder of the expert’s duty of truth to the court
At the beginning of this month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that it is examining the case of seven expert witnesses, who allegedly repeatedly misled the court as to the value of prestige replacement hire cars.
Where a driver is not at fault for an accident, they may be entitled under their insurance to claim an equivalent car while their own is being repaired, and the witnesses were employed by now defunct Autofocus to assess and report on the true value of those cars to insurance companies.
It is alleged that the quotes provided by Autofocus were often much lower than their competitors, and those quotes were often used by insurance companies in court to back claims that competitor credit hire companies were overcharging them.
Dishonest statements
Two years ago the chief executive of credit hire rival Accident Exchange, Steve Evans, successfully brought a claim against Autofocus researcher Helen Whysall, who admitted dishonest statements in four cases and was handed a 28-day suspended prison sentence by Northampton County Court.
Following
