A defendant firm has boasted it is the most prolific in the country for defeating claims using the fundamental dishonesty defence.

National firm Horwich Farrelly claims to have secured a ‘market-leading’ 146 findings of fundamental dishonesty since new legislation was introduced last year.

Courts are now able to throw out personal injury cases where the claimant has been found to be ‘fundamentally dishonest’ during the course of proceedings.

Horwich Farrelly says its peak for successful defences in one day is eight – and the firm believes this track record proves naysayers wrong about the need for the law change.

Mark Hudson (pictured), counter-fraud partner at Horwich Farrelly, said: ‘When the concept of fundamental dishonesty was introduced, some commentators were quick to suggest that the sanction was of limited application in the fight against fraud.

‘With these results, which are almost certainly the most findings of fundamental dishonesty ever secured in a single day, we have shown this is demonstrably not the case.’

Although defendant firms have been quick to talk about their successful use of fundamental dishonesty, the courts have shown on different occasions they are prepared to favour claimants accused of fabricating elements of their case.

Horwich Farrelly’s recent roll call includes four victims submitting claims worth around £11,500 following an alleged shunt in the car park of Legoland in Windsor.

But Wandsworth County Court ruled all four claims to be fundamentally dishonest, including two discontinued prior to trial, and awarded indemnity costs of £10,000.

On another occasion, a claimant seeking damages for whiplash after a collision in Dewsbury raised suspicions having made claims relating to nine other alleged accidents.

The judge at Leeds County Court found the claimant to be creating evidence without proper thought and ruled the claim as being fundamentally dishonest.