The judge overseeing the pretrial phase of the two landmark litigation cases about brain injuries in rugby has issued another rebuke to the legal teams on both sides over their lack of progress.
Senior Master Jeremy Cook started the latest round of case management hearings by reminding both the defendants and the claimants that “it won’t have escaped anybody’s notice that some of these claims are now over five years old, and we haven’t made much progress”. Since the cases involve claims of degenerative brain diseases, Cook said, time is at a premium.
Cook has told both sides to provide him with written updates between now and a scheduled case management hearing in October, when both sides will be required to have identified their lists of 28 lead claimants from among the hundreds involved.
The idea is these 28 will then be whittled down into a smaller group, who will represent the entire cohort. Cook said that the case was unique and as such requires “utmost cooperation between the parties” instead of the “usual sort of kickabout” between them.
Despite that, Matthew Phillips KC, representing the claimants, warned that the case is “probably headed for an almighty battle in August” over the ongoing issue of whether or not the claimants have complied with their disclosure obligations. Many of the claimants in the rugby league case in particular have been living with the grim possibility that after all this time their claims may yet be struck off if their legal team cannot satisfy the court that they have complied with the judge’s onerous order to disclose all available medical records to the defence, a process which, Phillips says, “will take at least two years and millions of pounds”.
Cook insisted that he did not want the hearings to get “sidetracked” by this issue, which has dominated the past year of the proceedings, but it increasingly feels as if the defendants in both league and union believe it is crucial to the case.
The claimants’ legal team say they are on top of the situation and that they will be able to comply with the deadline for disclosure set later this summer. The Rugby Football League has also failed to disclose records in its possession relating to the international playing careers of the men and women involved, and Cook noted that what was “sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”.
The rugby union case is further along, with one last remaining point of contention being the defendants’ need to set out in detail the particulars of breach of duty they claim was committed by World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, and the Welsh Rugby Union.
“We need to know what it is you allege should have been done by what point in time,” Cook said. “There’s been far too much looking down the telescope the wrong way, explaining why we can’t do things, the telescope needs to be turned around so we can concentrate on what can be done.”
Sir James Dyson, meanwhile, has acquired a 50% ownership stake in Bath and will become co-owner alongside the current chairman Bruce Craig. The company Dyson has sponsored Bath since 2014 but this is the first personal investment of the founder, who has been a fan of the club for more than 45 years.
