French court delivers good news for British PIP claims
Important TUV 5 PIP Implant Claims Update: July 2021
We are no longer accepting new clients under the TUV 5 wave of PIP claims.
Other firms may still be taking on new TUV 5 clients and we would recommend that you make urgent enquiries if you want your claim to be considered.
We do not know whether there will be a TUV 6 group in the future, but we will post news on this when a decision has been made.
Campaigning cosmetic surgery lawyer, Oliver Thorne, reports that the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal has upheld two earlier judgments of the Toulon Commercial Court holding German company TUV legally responsible for compensating victims of the PIP scandal.
TUV was the certifier of breast implants manufactured by PIP between 2002 and 2010.
This means that 13,456 claimants will be entitled to receive compensation, subject to any successful appeal by TUV. Medical assessment will need to be carried out individually in order to assess the amount of compensation each victim will receive, but in the meantime the court has awarded them €3,500.
Unfortunately the claims of 6,205 women failed as it could not be verified that they received the implant model certified by TUV.
In holding TUV as the certifier responsible, the court said that the 1993 European Directive on medical devices required bodies responsible for granting CE certification to products to verify the origin of the raw materials used by examining, in particular, the manufacturer’s material accounts. Had TUV done so the court felt it was likely that the use of low grade gel would have been discovered.
The Commercial Court of Toulon is now dealing with two new lawsuits that have been filed against TUV and this could pave the way for further PIP claims being brought by victims who haven’t already received justice.