If you are making a large claim for damages secret filming of you is given. It is very likely that the other side will try to obtain covert footage of you at some stage during your litigation. The purpose of the surveillance evidence is to try to catch you out by showing you doing something that you have previously said you cannot do. Surveillance evidence is a powerful tool in the Defendant’s armoury and sometimes it can have a devastating effect on a claim. If a claimant is caught lying, not only do they face the prospect of causing irreparable damage to their damages claim but, in some cases, they may also face the prospect of proceedings for contempt of court with the possibility of a prison sentence.We cannot (and would not wish to) help Claimants who are lying, but that is a tiny minority. In most cases the situation is much greyer than that and the claimant may be entirely honest.
Surveillance operatives will often attempt to obtain surveillance over a period of a few days. They will often turn up at your home address early in the morning and follow you throughout the day. You can be videoed in any public place such a supermarket, GP surgery or shopping centre. There may be more than one surveillance operative involved in the operation. The Defendants will frequently “sit” on the surveillance evidence and choose to deploy it at the point in your case when they think it will cause maximum damage.The best way to counter the effect of any surveillance is to take steps before the surveillance occurs to make your claim “surveillance-proof”. This is a specialist area that requires very careful handling by your solicitor.
After the surveillance footage has been disclosed there is still much that can be done by a skilful solicitor. It may be necessary to involve expertise from specialist barristers and technology-type experts. In some cases it may be possible to object to the Defendants relying on their surveillance evidence.
At Brian Barr Solicitors we are uniquely equipped to deal with difficulties arising out of surveillance evidence. This is because given the nature of our work a very high proportion of our clients are videoed. We have thus built up the expertise and contacts to give you the best chance of negating the effect of this sort of evidence.
If you are involved in a large claim and suspect that you are being videoed please contact us sooner rather than later. It is far better to make a claim “surveillance-proof” at any early stage than to try to undo the damage later.
We do not endorse any research, studies or sources mentioned within our blogs and comments. Furthermore, we do not endorse any medical advice provided, and would strongly recommend anyone seeking medical advice to contact their local healthcare provider.
