Yesim Kul & Ors v DWF Law LLP

Facts

The three appellants, C1, C2 and C3, had brought personal injury claims following road traffic accidents, all of them represented by Ersan Solicitors. A group of insurers, suspecting that a large number of such claims were fraudulent or dishonestly exaggerated and supported by bogus medical reports, commissioned a review of 372 claims arising from accidents occurring between 22 February 2016 and 1 March 2021, of which 367 involved Ersan. The review produced a spreadsheet listing claimants by name alongside details of their psychiatric referrals and reports. On 18 June 2021 James Stevens, a director and head of organised fraud at the respondent solicitors DWF, made a witness statement exhibiting that spreadsheet as JS1, served on Ersan in 43 disputed County Court claims in which fundamental dishonesty was alleged. Applications to debar reliance on the spreadsheet failed before HHJ Backhouse and, on appeal, before Freedman J; complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office were rejected. Following an order of HHJ Backhouse made in March 2023, DWF served a pseudonymised version. In October 2023 a Part 8 claim was issued on behalf of 127 individuals; all but three were discontinued. Eady J dismissed the remaining claims after a two-day trial, and the claimants appealed.