The advisory firm founded by Peter Mandelson has been cooperating with a campaign that critics say will thwart major lawsuits like the one recently brought by post office operators against the Post Office.
The Labor leader, who advised Keir Starmer, is the president of Global Counsel, a strategic advisory firm he founded and partly owns.
Former Conservative MP Seema Kennedy, one of Global Counsel’s senior advisers, has twice written to Attorney General Alex Chalk opposing changes to the law on class action-style litigation.
the minister legislates It’s to protect people’s ability to raise external funds to pay for major lawsuits against large companies, such as the lawsuit brought against the Post Office over the Horizon IT scandal.
Chalk introduced the law in March following a complaint by Alan Bates, a former post office manager who led a campaign to expose the scandal. This action by the Post Office Operator was made possible only with the support of third-party litigation funders.
The bill, which has been passed by Parliament, applies to England and Wales and aims to reverse the effects of last year’s ambiguous Supreme Court decision that threw litigation funding into turmoil.
In January, Bates wrote in the FT: The ruling would have prevented his “David vs. Goliath” lawsuit against the Post Office from occurring and prompted ministers to take action.
President Kennedy privately wrote to Mr. Chalk twice in March expressing concerns about his bill and arguing that the rise in class action lawsuits in the UK was making businesses uncomfortable. In her second letter, she urged Chalk to withdraw the bill, saying it could be unconstitutional and could violate human rights law.
Kennedy was writing to Chalk as executive director of the Office of Fair Civil Justice. She is employed as a senior advisor by Global Counsel, which she declares lobbied on behalf of the Fair Civil Justice Campaign between October and December of last year.
Fair Civil Justice says it wants to stop litigation funders from amassing huge fees and improve oversight of the rapidly growing but largely unregulated industry.
The report noted that post office operators received only 20% of the compensation awarded by the courts, and ultimately the government had to intervene to provide fuller compensation. ing.
But critics say the campaign Funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commercerepresenting the interests of large corporations that don’t want consumers to be sued anymore.
Litigation funders provide financial support to legal battles that they believe have a good chance of success in exchange for a portion of the compensation. This allows expensive cases to be released to people who would otherwise not be able to afford them.
High-profile cases in the UK that relied on litigation funders include a woman who brought an equal pay claim against Sainsbury’s, a car driver who brought a claim for damages against Volkswagen over emissions falsification, and Loyal These include a lawsuit against the UK’s largest mobile phone network for overcharging customers.
Neil Parslow, chief investment officer at Tellium Capital Management, which funds the post office company, said Fair Civil Justice was “crying crocodile tears about access to justice”. .
“All the arguments they raise are aimed at finding ways to make funding more difficult. Caps on funding returns are only aimed at reducing the number of cases that can be funded,” Parslow said. Told. “The Post Office spent almost twice as much as the Postmaster General spent on legal costs.”
Purslow pointed to evidence discussed in last month’s Post Office Horizon IT investigation. One of the documents submitted to the inquiry, dated September 2017, shows that the Post Office is considering extending the legal process and making it as costly as possible in the hope that post office operators and litigation funders will give up. He indicated that he was considering making it.
Susan Dunn, founder of Harbor Litigation Funding, said: “Large companies are typically the victims of class action lawsuits, so it’s rather convenient that a fair civil judiciary is trying to block claims against funders.” It seems good,” he said.
Ministers recently announced a review of the litigation funding industry. President Kennedy said: “The fact that subpostmasters received only 20% of compensation is a perfect example of why the litigation funding industry needs to be properly regulated to put victims and consumers first.” That’s an example,” he said.
“With respect to the bill being rushed through Congress, it is absolutely right to raise concerns that retroactive provisions could actually deny relief to certain groups.
“The Government has now announced a review of the third-party litigation funding industry, led by the Civil Justice Council, and we look forward to seeing these issues addressed in detail.”
