HF, leading legal advisers to the insurance and commercial sectors, were instructed by LV= to defend a claim brought by a claimant, with included whiplash injuries to his neck, back and right shoulder, a non-tariff injury to the right wrist and, crucially, dental injuries. Insurers are seeing a marked uptick in claims involving dental injuries – for some an increase of over 300% since 2021.

In this case, the claimant alleged that he had fractured one tooth as a result of direct impact with the steering wheel. Subsequently, he attended his dental expert appointment and claimed to have fractured two teeth (LR6 and LL4) whilst ‘clenching his teeth very hard’ during the impact.

The claimant was claiming £4,300 for the dental injuries alone, including future dental treatment involving root canal surgery and porcelain crowns.

Following his initial report, he also later added that he was claiming for an impact injury to his right wrist, despite only becoming aware of it some eight hours post-accident.

As the case went to trial, it was pointed out that the claimant had originally made absolutely no mention of any dental or wrist (non-tariff) injuries. He did not mention either of them when reporting the accident to LV=, nor when he submitted his SCNF one week after the accident. Yet he claimed to be symptomatic at both those points in time.

During cross examination on the basis of these issues, the claimant asked to discontinue the claim, which HF and LV= agreed, on the basis the claimant paid costs.

Toby Evans, Partner at HF said, “Dental injuries are the latest in a long line of non-tariff injuries where we are seeing an increase in their appearance in claims. At HF we’re committed to rooting out all attempts to inflate claims costs, therefore protecting the best interests of our insurer clients and their customers.”

Ben Fletcher, Director of Financial Crime at LV= said: “We pride ourselves on delivering a fantastic service to our customers and claimants. Thankfully the vast majority of claims are genuine, but this is another sad illustration of the lengths some people will go to.

“We are resolute in our determination to identify and defend against any type of fraud. There is a simple message here: If your claim is genuine, we will deal with it as quickly and fairly as we can. If greed takes over and you try and commit fraud, then be warned you may face unintended consequences, one of which is footing a legal bill as was the case here.”