Shavelogic Topples Gillette Complaint with Burford Capital Funding

As LFJ reported last month, the parties in the Stagecoach South Western Trains class action had reached a settlement agreement, with SSWT agreeing to pay up to £25 million to eligible class members who were overcharged on their rail fares by the train operator.

An article in City A.M. provides an update on the case, as the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has approved the proposed settlement. Now that it has been approved by the tribunal, class members will be able to register and submit a claim for payment in order to receive compensation from the settlement. The claim period will last for six months, from 10 July 2024 to 10 January 2025.

Within four months of the claim period ending, the class representative will then provide SSWT with the total amount to be claimed, up to the total of £25 million agreed in the settlement. SSWT will then have a period of 21 days following receipt of this information to pay the class representative the ‘notified damages sum’.

The class action was filed by Charles Lyndon, with Woodsford Group providing the funding for the litigation. 

Steven Friel, Woodsford’s CEO said: “This settlement approval confirms Woodsford as the most active and the most successful litigation funder in the CAT collective proceedings regime. Our actions have resulted in the first two, and as yet only, court-approved settlements in the regime.”The full collective settlement approval order from the CAT can be read here.

The value of litigation insurance, and the natural pairing of this coverage with litigation funding, is often highlighted as one of the core strengths of the current litigation environment. However, a significant reversal of a $1.6 billion judgement has shown that insurers must carefully balance the risks of uncertain outcomes when providing judgement preservation insurance.

Reporting by Bloomberg Law covers the ongoing impact of the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn a $1.6 billion judgement against IBM, which has left Liberty Mutual facing up to $150 million in coverage for judgement preservation insurance it provided. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Liberty Mutual has since withdrawn from “at least two potential litigation insurance deals” since the appeals court’s ruling. The $1.6 billion judgement was reportedly insured by a group of insurers to cover between $500 million and $750 million, with Liberty alone having covered between $100 million and $150 million.

Richard Angevine, a spokesperson for the insurer, said: “Liberty Mutual Insurance does not publicly discuss individual commercial insurance customers.”

Speaking to Bloomberg Law about the broader impact of this type of judgement on the litigation insurance market, Jason Goldy, a global team leader for Alliant Insurance’s Litigation & Contingent Risk Practice, said that insurers will continue to adjust their approach. Goldy said that “in the last six months you’ve seen these adjustments and I would think that you’re likely to see them accelerated if there are material losses,” but clarified that “the market will survive.” 

In a similar vein of thinking, Michael Perich, head of litigation insurance at Lockton, agreed that “the market is fluid and it's proven the ability to adapt to things.”