Direct Line Insurance lost their case against Mark Noble this week in the High Court. In 2008 the insurers had to pay Mr Noble £3.3 million following a motor cycle accident which had taken place in 2003. After the case was settled a neighbour contacted the Insurance Fraud Bureau to say that Mr Noble was not disabled.
Direct Line then decided to have Mr Noble secretly filmed. In 2009 Direct Line obtained an order freezing Mr Noble’s assets and later the case was re-opened to see if Mr Noble had been guilty of fraud and whether the award of damages should be set aside. Therefore there was much at stake both for Direct Line and for Mr Noble during the hearing which took some 8 days. Judgment was given this week in favour of Mr Noble who will keep his damages.
Widespread criticism of Direct Line has followed the news report on this case.
How far should insurers go to detect fraud?
In Mr Noble’s case it appears that the insurers went after an innocent man. Having acted for both defendants and claimants I know that there are times that claimants do not tell the truth. Insurers are on occasion justified in secretly filming a claimant when fraud is suspected. There have been cases when secret surveillance has provided clear proof of fraud and/or exaggeration. In Mr Noble’s case the insurers appear to have gone after the wrong man and have failed in a somewhat spectacular way. I anticipate that Mr Noble’s relations with his neighbour who contacted the Insurance Fraud Bureau might be a little frosty in the near future too!
Marek Bednarczyk, Partner, Civil Litigation
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