Compensation agreement for sofa burn victims
Over 1000 victims of the toxic sofa litigation are to have their claims settled following an agreement by lawyers acting for customers and insurers for Argos, Homebase, Walmsley Furnishings, Land of Leather and some smaller companies following admissions of liability for the injuries.
The Court ruled last month that about 350 victims who had bought their furniture from the now defunct Land of Leather would not be eligible for a pay out in respect of furniture manufactured by Linkwise.
A “Claims Handling Agreement” has been reached and will probably benefit between 1500 and 2000 Claimants. The Agreement only relates to “non severe” cases and legal action in almost 3000 cases will continue in other more severe cases and where an admission of liability remains in dispute.
Mr Justice McDuff was told on 27 April 2010 by lawyers acting for the victims and the insurers for the furniture retailers that agreement had been reached and this was approved by the Court.
The sofas, manufactured in China, contained the anti-fungal chemical DMF (dimethyl fumarate) which has now been banned by the European Union. The chemical was used to stop the furniture from going mouldy during storage in Asia.
Personal injury lawyer Julia Appleton from Reading based law firm Boyes Turner said “Some of our clients have been waiting for three years for recognition of the severity of their injuries and compensation payment from the furniture retailers. It is likely that 100,000 leather suites were sold in Britain, contaminated with DMF. So far there has been no national recall by Trading Standards Officials. At the outset nobody knew the cause of the serious rashes, respiratory problems and other health problems. It took about 9 months to identify the chemical DMF. Many people believed they had cancer or were dying. We believe that many sofas are still being used by people with DMF in them. We will continue to fight for compensation for those people who have been affected by their furniture”.
The sofa litigation is believed to be the largest consumer group litigation in British legal history.
Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.
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