Widlake v BAA [2009] EWCA Civ 1256 - 23/11/09: In a claim for personal injury sustained after falling down a flight of stairs, the trial judge found that, contrary to the claimant's pleaded case, the consequences of her fall were comparatively minor and that she had deliberately concealed her history of back problems from her medical experts in an effort to increase her level of compensation.
Dealing with the costs of the claim, the trial judge found that the real winner of the trial had been the defendant, and ordered the claimant to pay the defendants costs. In doing so, he concluded that by setting out to mislead her own medical experts, the claimant had sought to manipulate the civil justice system on a grand scale. The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had misdirected himself in characterising the claimant's actions as an attempt to manipulate the civil justice system, and it was therefore necessary for the Court of Appeal to exercise its own discretion with regard to the costs of the case.
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