Private Detective hired by ins co. Is this allowed? Is info allowed in court?

D

darrel

Guest
Hi

I am currently in law suit with a well known insurance company and have been informed that there may be private dectective following me, so i have afew questions if you could answer id greatly appericate it - i am not making a personal injury claim against them just to clarify.

1st - are they legaly allowed to do this?

2nd - what do they do with findings? can they be used in court? - which be intresting to see what they have as all i do is go to work, home, supermarket ect nothing exciten i dont have a social life out every night or anything - will they look into my family? thoughts it is making me sick!!

3th - how do i go about finding out what information they took or hold on me?

I know this mite sound stupid im freaking out about even going out of the house at thoughts if there is someone following me or taking photos, any advice would appericate it thanks.
 
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If it's not personal injury which is typical for instructing a PI, what's the nature of the claim you are a plaintiff in? I can then give you some pointers.
 
1. As far as I know private detectives operate legally in this country and anyone is free to retain their services.

2. Yes. Probably.

3. A freedom of information request. A motion for discovery. Ask them.
 
onq said:
3. A freedom of information request. A motion for discovery. Ask them.
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It would be the Data Protection Acts you would use unless it is a state body. They can photograph and video you in public places but any invasion of your privacy without a court order would be contrary to the DP Acts. If you are not caught out in some way, it might be worth pursuing this under the DP Act for the sake of it.
 
I don't think disliking the thought of being followed/photographed indicates that you've done something wrong.

I can sympathise with the OP, I'd hate to think of someone following me.
 
I wouldn't like it I thought someone was following or watching me. I knew a person a few years back that was in a car crash and who subsequently put in a claim for personal injuries and she was followed by a PI for months.
 
Due to circumstances I had to make a claim and subsequently found out i had been followed by Pi's to make sure claim was valid. I honestly had no issues with it, because as the other poster said they only track you in public places. i personally had no issue with them checking my claim was real, and would rather this practice happened instead of people getting away with false claims left, right and centre. if you know you're doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear.

i also have a friend who does this as a job for an insurance company and it is becoming a more common practice.
 
Perhaps you may review the non-fatal offences against the persons ACT 1997 -SECTION 10 which deals with stalking behaviour.
If you genuinely believe that there is no good reason to follow/observe you (which in an PI case the insurance company could claim there was) you may consider pursuing this.
But you must be sure there is someone doing this and the usual way is through a couple of friends willing to spend some time following you from afar.
 
Its not considered to be stalking.

Its a legitimate means for a company to defend itself from fraudulent claims.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear - think if the PI as a "minder". :)
 
Years ago I had a PI claimant who had to travel thru a remote rural location. The insurers employed an investigator. An alert post mistress spotted a strange car following him, and phoned Gardai. That led to a Garda car joining the procession. My client had some relatiions in the Gardaí, so the investigator found himself beng investigated
 
darrel said:
I am not making a personal injury claim against them just to clarify.

1st - are they legaly allowed to do this?

2nd - what do they do with findings? can they be used in court? -

3th - how do i go about finding out what information they took or hold on me?
Click to expand...

Please note the OP is not making a personal injury claim.

The OP has posed three very focused questions. Please lets keep this thread to discuss and answer these questions.
 
my solictor told me he was informed this may be the case not 100% - so the answer i was looking for is yes hey are allowed to do it so.

From what i could gather not much info on it on web they are allowed follow you in personal injury claim and i do agree to see if claim is honest but what i dont understand is in my case its not personal injury and they still hired one strange really - well hopefully case will be set down in coming weeks and this will put end to it if it is the case.

1 more question after the case can i request a copy of documents held if the did hire PI?
If so people with me if they took photos like kids are they allowed take photos of my kids even thinking about it making me feel worse here by the minute!!

Oh and Ravima i have not one thing to hide what upset me over it was more so my family been watched not a nice feeling i suppose everyone to themselfs.

Thanks very much all for replys greatly appericate it.
 
Not sure if this is of any use?

[broken link removed]

Also some references to PIs here:

[broken link removed]
 
was'nt there a case not so long ago involving , i think , a school secretary and a principal who had employed a PI. On discovering that she, the secretary, was being watched and followed by a PI, she phoned the Garda and subsequentially won her case
 
It could be an opportunity to have some fun. See if you can spot the PI, and then you can start following them. Or bring out a cup of tea and biccies to them. Or get a bike, and cycle down some pedestrian paths or laneways where a car can't follow you, just to wind them up.
 
I was thinking along those lines too. The scene from The Big Lebowski where The Dude confronts "brother Seamus" came to mind... :D
 
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