There is a growing trend for courts to make awards of exemplary damages in civil claims where fraud is proven, as Anthony Johnson reports
It is now widely accepted by county court judges and legal representatives of a claimant and defendant persuasion alike, that there has been a significant increase in the number of cases of civil fraud uncovered by the courts since the onset of the current, ongoing economic crisis; it is unsurprising that in straitened economic climes more and more people may be tempted into such illegitimate sources of income. The government is clearly alive to the issue, and has cited it in support of its widely vaunted reform to the costs regime in civil proceedings, eg, in the December 2012 consultation on reducing the number and costs of whiplash claims, Justice Minister Helen Grant stated: “Our aim is to deter fraudulent and exaggerated claims and reduce the cost of dealing with whiplash claims while preserving access to justice.”
The highest profile area of civil fraud has probably been in relation
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