False documentation at heart of dishonesty claim

A minor accident at a petrol station in 2017 turned into £150,000 personal injury claim resulting in a court case in 2023.

In 2017 an Allianz customer reversed from a closed pump at a petrol station and hit a third party vehicle, causing minor damage. Allianz accepted liability and repaired the vehicle.

Six months later, Allianz received a claim for personal injury from the third party, Mr Pritesh Ganatra from Northampton, for neck, mid and lower back injuries along with loss of earnings, travel expenses, physiotherapy and legal costs. After referral to Allianz’s claims validation team it was declined as a dishonest claim.

Court proceedings were then issued from Mr Ganatra where he claimed over £93,000 in loss of earnings. Despite Allianz stating that the claim was fraudulent and at odds with the damage caused to the vehicle, Mr Ganatra produced documents in support of his loss of earnings claim. Allianz believed the documents to be fabricated and instructed their solicitors, Keoghs, to investigate and defend the claim.

As part of the investigations Keoghs obtained a Court Order for the extensive disclosure of documents relevant to the loss of earnings claim. The documents in both Allianz and Keoghs view supported the fact that the loss of earnings claim was false.

Both the driver and Mr Ganatra gave evidence at Northampton County Court in October 2023, where the court found Mr Ganatra was not injured in the low speed collision and that the documents used for his loss of earnings claim were falsified.

Ruling that the claim was fundamentally dishonest, the claimant was ordered to pay an initial £20,000 towards Allianz legal costs with the outstanding costs to be agreed in due course.

James Burge, head of counter fraud, Allianz Commercial said: “We’ve seen an increase in fundamental dishonesty findings, with fraudsters exaggerating events for financial gain. This case demonstrates the continued work of the teams across Allianz and Keoghs and the zero tolerance approach that Allianz takes.”

Nigel Parker, Associate Solicitor at Keoghs LLP added: “All too often claims of this nature are successful. It is critically important that these type of claims are fully investigated and that claimants learn that they cannot lie and get paid out. This is a fantastic result for Allianz and Keoghs and shows the benefit of working together to get the right result”.