Mass Tort brief
London Courts Set Boundaries on Collective Action Payouts and Delays
Landmark rulings on interest and limitation periods redefine the economics of UK group litigation, while mass personal injury and competition claims advance.
Mass Tort
The Court of Appeal awarded pre-judgment costs interest against BHP — handing funders financial protection against delays and reinforcing London's group litigation market.
BackgroundThe 2015 Fundão tailings dam collapse in Mariana, Brazil killed 19 people and washed toxic mining waste across hundreds of miles of river basin. Claimants brought collective proceedings before the English High Court against Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP's UK holding entity.
- The Master of the Rolls affirmed that courts have jurisdiction to grant interest on costs even when claimants use Conditional Fee Agreements, safeguarding funders against prolonged inflation.
- BHP faces interest assessed at 1% over the Bank of England base rate on costs incurred between August 2023 and January 2026, creating mounting liability.
- Litigation funders noted the ruling provides valuable financial returns that will encourage institutional capital to back complex group actions in London courts.
Mass Tort
The Infected Blood Authority expanded payouts across its £12.8 billion fund — delivering statutory redress to thousands of infected NHS patients and families outside courtrooms.
BackgroundDuring the 1970s and 1980s, roughly 30,000 NHS patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood transfusions and plasma clotting factors. Sir Brian Langstaff's public inquiry condemned successive governments and health bodies for covering up the disaster.
- The authority has paid over £2 billion across 3,150 individual claims and is opening applications for surviving relatives and estates to receive statutory compensation.
- Compensation regulations confirm all settlement payments are exempt from UK income, capital gains, and inheritance taxes, preserving full awards for families.
- The program provides structured compensation for physical injury, emotional distress, and past lost earnings without requiring court litigation, bypassing adversarial delays.
Mass Tort
The High Court threw out the £340 million cabbie lawsuit against Uber — ruling that waiting for regulatory certainty forfeited drivers' legal standing.
BackgroundLondon licensed taxi drivers alleged Uber committed an unlawful means conspiracy between 2012 and 2018 by obtaining Transport for London operating licences through deceptive disclosures. Under the Limitation Act 1980, commercial claims generally expire six years after the breach.
- Mr Justice Birt ruled drivers could have uncovered necessary operational facts before June 2018 through reasonable diligence, rendering late filing fatal.
- The court dismissed arguments that Uber deliberately concealed facts to extend the statutory six-year limitation clock under Section 32, rejecting taxi group testimony.
- The ruling cautions claimant law firms that waiting for conclusive regulatory findings risks complete dismissal on limitation grounds across collective actions.
Mass Tort
Over 1,000 UK claimants are suing J&J and Kenvue — moving the global asbestos talc battle into British courts where individual causation replaces punitive juries.
BackgroundWhile Johnson & Johnson proposed a $5.5 billion settlement to resolve ovarian cancer claims in the United States, parallel litigation is escalating in British courts. English personal injury litigation lacks US-style punitive damage awards, relying instead on judicial determinations of causation.
- More than 1,000 English claimants and roughly 140 Scottish litigants are pursuing compensation for mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, marking the first major British cosmetic talc action.
- The High Court scheduled trials to evaluate whether cosmetic talc distributed across the UK contained carcinogenic asbestos fibres, setting up critical scientific scrutiny.
- A finding of product contamination would expose J&J and Kenvue to significant compensation claims under the Consumer Protection Act, opening broader European liability.
Mass Tort
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