Rugby brain injury claimants face £2.8m legal bill after delays

Rugby brain injury claimants face £2.8m in defendants’ legal costs after court-identified delays, with most due by the end of October.

The costs follow delays that Senior Master Cook said were caused by the “contradictory and misguided approach” of Rylands Garth, the solicitors’ firm that represented the players until earlier this year.

Hundreds of claimants are currently struck off from the action after being found in breach of a court order requiring them to disclose all available documents relating to their neurological testing.

The documents were required by the defendants: World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, the Welsh Rugby Union and the Rugby Football League.

Cook ruled that the affected cases can continue only if the defendants’ legal fees are settled and KP Law, which replaced Rylands Garth in July, meets the outstanding disclosure requirements by the end of October.

Paul Downes KC, representing the claimants, acknowledged that the case was still “in crisis” and said the players were now in “whatever watering hole lies beyond the last chance saloon”.

Downes also acknowledged that someone “was going to have put their hand in their pocket” to settle the £2.8m in costs. It remains unclear who will pay them.

The action is funded by legal finance firm Asertis, which has already covered the multimillion-pound costs of the claimants’ legal work and all neurological testing carried out so far during the six years the case has been running.

Downes warned that if the cases were struck off, the resulting delays could mean many claimants never have the opportunity for justice.

“I understand seven of the rugby union claimants are deceased,” Downes said. “The sort of delays we are talking about almost certainly mean there would be many more.”

Cook also raised concerns that the same legal team was working on separate large-scale litigation concerning brain injuries in football and questioned what effect this could have on progress in the rugby cases.

Rylands Garth recently said it intended to continue with the football litigation, but has also applied to come off the record in that action and will no longer represent the claimants.

It is not yet clear who, if anyone, will take over the football cases.