Exaggeration played down

The claimant was a mechanic who suffered lacerations to his fingers whilst working inside a police car in 2002. In 2003 he was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. He claimed that there was a direct link between the initial injury and the CRPS. Causation, the extent of the claimant's disability and quantum were disputed.

The defendants relied upon footage showing the claimant participating in everyday activities and competing in air gun shooting competitions. They also produced evidence that, one month after the claimant had been cleared to drive a manual car, he completed an application for benefits stating he had significant restrictions in using his limbs.

The court found for the claimant on causation. As to the extent of the disability, the court considered four issues: the claimant's good character; his good work record; the acceptance that he suffered with CTS; and that he was a man anxious about his state of health. It found that he did suffer a disability but that he had represented the worst aspects of it as the norm.

The court was persuaded by the claimant's eight character witnesses, called to give evidence of the his symptoms and good character. Had the surveillance evidence shown activities that the claimant had specifically claimed he could not do (rather than were painful to do), the outcome may have been different.