Since personal injury litigation began there were always untruthful plaintiffs – malingerers who lied about the extent of their injuries in order to get the best pay day. However, a test has been developed by a psychologist which has rapidly gained approval by experts far and wide and which roots out such litigants.

It’s called the ‘Fake Bad Scale’ has now been adopted wholesale by expert witnesses in cases where they said that plaintiffs were clearly lying about their injuries. The creator of the test, Paul Lees-Haley, maintains that there is empirical evidence showing that the test is effective, despite criticism of it from some quarters.

The test is a relatively straightforward ‘true-or-false test and asks 43 questions such as whether or not the subject is sleeping well. Possible malingerers, it is claimed, score 23 or more.

“Virtually everyone is a malingerer according to this scale,” a leading critic, James Butcher, a retired University of Minnesota psychologist who has published research faulting the Fake Bad Scale. “This is great for insurance companies, but not great for people.”

But Lees-Haley maintains that such criticism is being orchestrated by plaintiff lawyer groups.

One attorney who has successfully challenged the use of the Fake Bad Test, despite its widespread acceptance is Dorothy Clay Sims of Ocala, Florida. She ensured the test was disallowed by judges in two of her cases last year.

However, it seems that the test is, if anything, gaining in popularity, and was recently successfully used by the defense in a case whereby a civilian contractor in Iraq was claiming PTSD.

From X-Pro 2008