Leather sofa victims win compensation

Around 1,650 people who suffered skin rashes, burns and other medical problems caused by a toxic chemical used by Chinese manufacturers of leather sofas are to receive compensation awards of between £1,250 and £10,000 following a claims handling agreement at the High Court this week.

The claims are being litigated under a group litigation order, with Russell Jones & Walker acting as lead solicitors, and almost all are being funded by conditional fees.

Three retailers '“ Argos, Land of Leather and Walmsleys '“ have admitted liability. However, Land of Leather went into administration in January this year, and the High Court ruled last month that around 350 claimants could not recover compensation from the firm's insurers because of breach of a condition in the insurance policy.

Richard Langton, litigation partner at Russell Jones, said around 200 law firms were involved in the group litigation.

He said the sofas were manufactured by Chinese companies Linkwise and Eurosofa, and contained a powerful fungicide called DMF.

Sofas are subjected to a large number of tests on arrival in the UK to make sure they comply with EU regulations.

'Nobody would have dreamt of testing them for DMF because it is so toxic,' Langton said.

'Sachets containing the chemical were inserted beneath the leather or stapled to the frame.'

Langton explained that DMF turns into a gas when heated, so the longer people sat on the sofas and the more body heat they generated, the worse their exposure to the chemical was.

'There is no precedent for these types of injuries and no body of case law to value the claims,' Langton said. 'If there had not been a group litigation order, there would have been thousands of claims in the county courts.'

He said there would be a case management hearing at the High Court next month to deal with 3,000 claims where liability was not admitted.

Langton said that as well as Argos and the Land of Leather, 'virtually every high street retailer' was involved in the contested claims. He said that preliminary tests revealed that there were traces of DMF in some of the furniture involved, but emphasised that the retailers denied liability.