Law firm executive's £65,000 damages claim thrown out by judge

A law firm executive, who used her expertise in dealing with road accident insurance claims to personally claim £65,000 damages for faked crash injuries, has been condemned by a judge as a brazen liar and faces having to pay a massive legal bill.

Michelle Scully was the passenger in three separate car accidents in the space of two years in which she claimed to suffer injuries and psychological trauma that meant she felt unable to exercise in the gym, lost weight and became unwell.

However, insurance investigators who challenged her damages claim discovered she managed to take part in a 10km race, complete the 24-mile Yorkshire Three Peaks walk and even climb Ben Nevis.

The case before Manchester County Court also exposed Scully for scamming her employer and being a love cheat.

The court heard how Scully, who had a series of senior jobs in law firms over more than a decade, falsified her CV to boost her career by claiming to have five A levels (four at grade A) when she only had one and lied about having qualifications as a legal executive.

The married woman even invented a story about her lover – a work colleague and gym personal trainer – blackmailing her over a ‘compromising video’ of them together.

After hearing all the evidence, Judge Nigel Bird threw out Scully’s compensation claim as ‘fundamentally dishonest’. He ruled she had lied about her injuries and declared Scully ‘is a generally dishonest person.’

Scully, of Hyde, Manchester, resigned from her job at solicitors Bond Turner in April this year, the day before she was due to attend a disciplinary meeting over her faked CV and faced the sack.

Her career is now in ruins and she faces having to pay a huge legal bill – estimated at over £250,000.

The judge said he is likely to order her to pay the costs of the five defendants she was suing, who were three drivers and two insurance companies.

Scully’s job was to represent people making legal claims against insurance companies following road accidents.

And she put that expertise to dishonest use when she was involved as a passenger in three genuine minor accidents herself.

The first in February 2015 was in a car driven by her husband Gavin Atherton. The second was in August 2016 when the car was driven by work colleague Muriam Yunas and the third was three months later in November when her lover Dominic Baugh was behind the wheel.

On each occasion she claimed to suffer a physical injury but mostly a severe psychological impact.

She said she suffered injuries to the neck, spine and shoulder and also tinnitus as a result of the accidents.

Her compensation claim was backed up by written evidence from five medical experts. But the judge rejected the expert evidence as he found she lied to the doctors and failed to provide them with accurate information.

The court heard based on the lies Scully was diagnosed with the eating disorder bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and anxiety and depressive disorder.

She had been a fitness fanatic but told doctors she ‘lost interest’ in the gym after the accidents.

Scully claimed to stop eating properly and said she blacked out at the wheel of a car as a result – an incident the judge ruled was fictitious.

She told one doctor she felt ‘embarrassed and anxious’ and ‘out of place’ in the gym and could no longer go.

However, the judge was shown evidence Scully continued to exercise hard and regularly.

Mr Baugh, a personal trainer and junior work colleague, regularly went to the gym with Scully and he said they ‘took part in strenuous exercise’ in 2016 after the first two accidents.

By the time they were both involved in a car crash they were also ‘romantically involved.’

He said he and Scully suffered no injuries in the low impact crash in November 2016. Afterwards Scully regularly went to the gym in her lunch break, the court heard.

Mr Baugh also provided evidence that Scully did a 10k run with colleagues at a different law firm in May 2016, climbed Ben Nevis in July 2017 and did the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge a year later.

Scully attempted to label her ex-lover Mr Baugh as a liar by claiming he defrauded her during their relationship.

She claimed he used her bank details without her consent to cover monthly £158 car finance payments.

Scully told the judge Mr Baugh had threatened to reveal an ‘intimate video’ to her long-term partner, who she was still in a relationship with.

However, the judge backed Mr Baugh’s evidence that Scully agreed to cover the car payments and had never threatened to share a video.

The judge ruled Scully ‘made up a story that Dominic Baugh had effectively blackmailed her.’

Today Alex Wilkinson, Partner at HF and Head of the firm’s Technical Fraud Team, instructed by Admiral Insurance in respect of two of the three accidents, said: ‘Michelle Scully thought she could use her knowledge of the claims process to dishonestly obtain compensation for accidents that, in fact, caused her no injuries. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the lies she had told about her qualifications throughout her legal career, potentially denying someone else a job that they would otherwise have secured, are scandalous. I am glad for the industry that Miss Scully’s dishonesty has been uncovered and that the insurers involved in this litigation took the decision to fight these claims to trial.’

The Law Society has been informed of the judgement and no complaint has so far been made to police.

Scully now uses her married name Atherton and is understood to still be married.