‘Fundamental dishonesty’ (“FD”) is a prominent and controversial feature of modern personal injury litigation, though still developing and oft-misunderstood. It is ultimately a procedural tool; one of the exceptions to the QOCS regime found in CPR 44.16. Where a defendant can satisfy a judge on the balance of probabilities that the claim was FD, that defendant can enforce a costs order in its favour against the claimant.
By Richard Collier, barrister, 1 Chancery Lane
The term also appears in Section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (“Section 57”) which bites where a claimant has a genuine claim and is entitled to damages, though has been fundamentally dishonest ‘in relation to’ their primary (or related) claim. For example a wronged, genuinely injured claimant who dishonest...
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