'Rather Fail With Honour Than Succeed By Fraud'

Whether there are many of our civil law judges who are familiar with these words attributed to Sophocles is a matter for speculation but they are fast becoming a tenet by which civil claims for compensation are judged.

That what a claimant might aver during proceedings be it in a statement of case, a schedule of damages, a witness statement or even in giving disclosure can be the foundation of finding of fundamental dishonesty is a matter about which there is no doubt. However inJet 2 Holidays Ltd v Hughes & Anor [2019] EWCA Civ 1858the Court of Appeal has put at risk of committal for contempt those who make false witness statements which are disclosed under the pre-action protocols, ruling that for committal applications to be made it is not essential that there be "proceedings".

This matter concerned a claim in respect of alleged holiday illness directed against the package holiday company with which the holiday had been booked. In purported compliance with the pre-action protocol for personal injury claims, the prospective claimants served witness statements containing statements of truth. Among the allegations it was asserted that food was left uncovered for long periods, food appeared to have been reused on several occasions, burgers seemed undercooked, ants and beetles were around the food areas and ants were crawling on the bread. The proposed claimants also alleged that children were being sick in the pool and their child became ill after swallowing pool water. They claimed to have started to feel ill on the second day and began being sick on the third and were acutely ill for the remainder of the holiday with diarrhoea, stomach pains, vomiting, weakness and were not fully recovered on their return home. They said that they believed that their sickness was caused by undercooked food and unhygienic conditions at the hotel.

However, when the claim was investigated it was found that the proposed claimants had, during their holiday posted various images and comments on social media which included two posts on Twitter, other posts on Facebook and a video on YouTube which showed them and their children well and enjoying themselves at the hotel in question. The claims were rejected and no proceedings were issued by the proposed claimants.

The appellants sought permission to bring committal proceedings against the respondents based on the allegedly false statements in their original witness statements that had been verified by a statement...