PPI: Thousands of cases failed
A law firm specialising in PPI claims has been awarded £4.2m in damages for thousands of cases that failed because of its joint venture partner.
His Honour Judge Johns KC found there was a 72.5% chance that the claims would have succeeded had they been properly handled by Momenta Holdings (PPI) Ltd.
Momenta, a flexible resourcing provider, sued Altrincham-based Cheval Legal in 2023 seeking money it said it was owed; Cheval counterclaimed for breach of contractual duties, including as to skill and care, in how Momenta conducted ‘Plevin’ claims.
These are named after the 2014 Supreme Court case that allowed consumers to recover premiums paid in respect of PPI policies on the basis of undisclosed commissions.
A ruling in 2023, in which the court granted Momenta an interim injunction to stop Cheval dissipating money in its client account, recorded that Cheval was set up in 2020 so the pair could work together to pursue Plevin claims.
Cheval, as a regulated law firm, directed litigation strategy and was the “front of house”, while Momenta undertook the day-to-day running of the claims. They were funded by Spectralegal.
The relationship broke down in 2023 and Momenta sued Cheval and its directors – barrister Stephen McGarry, who handled the original Plevin case, and solicitor Philip Ryan – as well as DGM Administrative Services, a claims management company set up by the two lawyers.
In a ruling from last December only published yesterday, HHJ Johns said that Momenta has since gone into voluntary liquidation – in May 2024, according to Companies House – and its claim was not pursued by the liquidators and thus dismissed. Cheval was granted judgment in default for its counterclaim and the hearing was held to assess the sums due.
The claims were put into 13 different groups by type of case – such as those that were struck out, abandoned and not pursued at all – and the judge looked at samples in each group to consider causation and loss of chance.
On causation, Cheval argued that the claims were “sure-fire winners”, meaning there should be no discount for the possibility that some might have failed.
But HHJ Johns said the evidence did not support this and Cheval produced an analysis at his request showing that 8.7% of the claims were “rogue” – they failed but there was no criticism made of Momenta – and a further 18.8% were “ineligible”, because of limitation, for example, “and so flawed”.
“That being the best guide I have to risk of failure, I consider the underlying Plevin claims therefore had, on average, a 27.5% chance of not succeeding so as to cover the costs claimed by Cheval as losses. Put the other way round, the chance of recovering the costs which was lost by reason of Momenta’s breaches of duty was 72.5%.”
The judge went through each of the 13 groups and found that Cheval Legal was owed £4.2m in total, and also ordered Momenta to pay its costs of the counterclaim.
According to Momenta’s last published accounts, for the year to 31 March 2023, Cheval had been claiming £10m.
The results showed a turnover of £2.3m and a loss before tax of £18m, compared to a profit of £6.4m on a turnover of £15m the year before.
The company’s assets were subject to charges in favour of Tikehau Investment Management, which had an outstanding loan of almost £42m to Momenta, plus accrued interest of £9m.
Leave a Comment