Following on from our earlier blog on the High Court ruling that Zurich did not have to pay out for toxic sofa victims on the basis of Land of Leather’s subsequent administration and breach of claims control clauses, it seems that more than 1,500 other victims of those toxic sofas have been handed some good news. In one of Britain’s largest consumer group litigations ever, the High Court heard that insurers for Argos, Homebase, Walmsley Furnishing and some smaller firms had admitted liability for the problems caused by an anti-fungal chemical that was used to treat the sofas whilst they were in storage in Asia. Mr Justice MacDuff was told that a claims handling agreement had been reached which provided £20 million of compensation which would be shared between the 1,500 and 2,000 “non-severe” victims.
However, a further 2,500 of the more severely injured claimants will have to return to court on 21 May 2010 in cases where liability is in dispute to learn of their entitlement to compensation.
