Alleged Fraudulent Insurance Insurance Claim

[Arrods]

The insurer has alleged that friend's daughter has made a fraudulent motor insurance claim, purely on the basis of discrepancies in her initial and subsequent statements. The second was a 3 hour grilling by an ex-cop insurance investigator. Slightly dippy, forgetful etc she may be - but a fraudster never.

The insurer has rejected the claim, having concluded that her intention was to secure a financial settlement to which she was not entitled, this being an offence under s.2 and 3 (and potentially s.6 and 7) of the Fraud Act 2006. And somewhat threateningly, they may also "pass a copy of our file to the relevant authorities for further investigation".

Of course, the more serious consequence, if this is allowed to stand, is that it will be very difficult for her to obtain insurance in the future.

I am confident that we will be able to disprove the allegation but I would appreciate any assistance anyone can give on the sort of additional legal terminology I can use in response to the insurer e.g. is it defamatory, we will be instructing solicitors etc? Thanks in anticipation.

[bookbinder]

Consult a solicitor without delay.

[jno]

if the only person they've sent it to is your friend's daughter, it's not defamatory - for that, they have to tell other people.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/what-to-do-if-your-insurance-claim-is-rejected

[Arrods]

Thanks bb - will suggest that - and thanks jno for the clarification.

[Peter Pedant]

forget defamation
go thro' the insurance companies appeals procedure

Do you know the gurl ? - for your own use - I doan wanna know - what was the claim ? Do you know there was damage? DId any one keep records of the claim? ( you could/she could claim a copy under the data protection act for both)
is she vulnerable ( yes ) did she have someone present taking notes - I know the answer to that
Can she remember what was said.

These are all the things for the appeal

Allegations of fraud to the authorities
there is a bit about that on this thread
The short answer is that libel is an absolute non starter

witness immunity rule:
http://www.brettwilson.co.uk/blog/false-complaints-to-the-police-the-witness-immunity-rule/

Mr ex-plod writing to the daughter would have known all this of course.

The family can do the appeal thing themselves - it is just sort of from filling again - keep copies !
You are third hand - I would keep a suitable ( far) third hand distance [ speaking from experience]

[Arrods]

A belated thank you PP for your response. Yes, they are going through the insurer's appeal procedure. I just wanted to know whether they could lob defamation/ libel into the equation to boot, which they clearly can't.

I like the idea of using the DP Act. That could prove useful. The insurer (or rather the claims agents acting on their behalf) have a bit of a reputation in trying to throw out claims.