Latest news with #MarkEdwards
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former workers sue chicken plant over Covid outbreak
Former workers at a poultry factory who claim they caught coronavirus in a mass outbreak at the plant can continue legal action against their former employers. Public Health Wales said there were over 200 confirmed Covid-19 cases linked to the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni, on Anglesey, in June 2020. The group are suing 2 Sisters Food Group, alleging they contracted Covid-19 as a result of a breach of duty, breach of contract and negligence. Their case was thrown out last year but they have now won a High Court appeal, allowing the case to continue. Lawyers for 2 Sisters previously argued the claimants could not prove how they caught the virus and if it was connected to the factory. 200 Covid-19 cases at Welsh meat plant outbreak End of an era as 700 jobs go at chicken factory The 2 Sisters factory closed down permanently in March 2023, with the loss of over 700 jobs, after the company said the site was old and needed too much investment to bring it up to standard. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, its site was one of several food processing factories in Wales that experienced outbreaks of Covid-19. At the time, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said officials were looking at the level of risk in the food industry. Mark Edwards, Glynne Roberts, Nia Williams and Brian Perry worked on the chicken production line and claim they worked "shoulder to shoulder" and all fell ill with the virus that month. As part of their claim, they say Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work regulations had not been properly followed. The company accepts the staff worked in close proximity with each other, but denies they were "shoulder to shoulder". The firm said it implemented enhanced hygiene measures at the factory which was temporarily closed on 18 June 2020. At the start of their legal action, the former employees had not obtained expert medical evidence to support the claim. Their lawyers said occupational health experts and virologists would be asked to give their opinion before the case went to trial. They also said the company should disclose evidence about the outbreak before they could ask for expert opinion to back up the claim. Lawyers for 2 Sisters argued the claimants could not prove when or how they had caught the virus and if it had any connection to the factory. In January 2024 they asked for the case to be struck out at the county court in Caernarfon on the basis that Mr Edwards and the others could not prove the cause of their illness and that their claim was doomed to fail. In July, Judge Wendy Owen ruled there was no real prospect of the claim succeeding without medical evidence and no other compelling reason why the case should go to trial. The judge said the issue of causation and medical opinion was a crucial element which should have already been investigated before proceedings were commenced, and gave a summary judgement against the former workers. But permission to appeal the case was granted in December 2024 and a hearing before a High Court judge in Cardiff was held in April. In a judgement handed down at the end of May, High Court judge Sir Peter Lane said the summary judgment process was "somewhat draconian in nature" and courts should avoid conducting what has come to be described as a "mini trial" of a case. Sir Peter said Judge Owen "fell into error" in effectively conducting a "mini trial" without the benefit of the evidence that would have been available had the case been allowed to proceed to trial. He found that in a claim where the costs of an expert are likely to be significant, when set against the likely value of the claims, it is "plainly proportionate" for the former workers to have proceeded with the claim in this way. Allowing the appeal, he said the claimants may face "an uphill task" but Judge Owen could not be satisfied the claimants had no real prospect of succeeding. The date for the next hearing is yet to be decided. Long NHS waits to end by 2026, says health board Couple take legal action over newborn baby's death Young people with long Covid 'battle' for NHS care
BBC News
05-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
2 Sisters: Former workers sue chicken plant after contracting Covid
Former workers at a poultry factory who claim they caught coronavirus in a mass outbreak at the plant can continue legal action against their former Health Wales said there were over 200 confirmed Covid-19 cases linked to the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni, on Anglesey, in June group are suing 2 Sisters Food Group, alleging they contracted Covid-19 as a result of a breach of duty, breach of contract and negligence. Their case was thrown out last year but they have now won a High Court appeal, allowing the case to for 2 Sisters previously argued the claimants could not prove how they caught the virus and if it was connected to the factory. The 2 Sisters factory closed down permanently in March 2023, with the loss of over 700 jobs, after the company said the site was old and needed too much investment to bring it up to the height of the pandemic in 2020, its site was one of several food processing factories in Wales that experienced outbreaks of the time, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said officials were looking at the level of risk in the food industry. Mark Edwards, Glynne Roberts, Nia Williams and Brian Perry worked on the chicken production line and claim they worked "shoulder to shoulder" and all fell ill with the virus that part of their claim, they say Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work regulations had not been properly company accepts the staff worked in close proximity with each other, but denies they were "shoulder to shoulder".The firm said it implemented enhanced hygiene measures at the factory which was temporarily closed on 18 June 2020. At the start of their legal action, the former employees had not obtained expert medical evidence to support the lawyers said occupational health experts and virologists would be asked to give their opinion before the case went to also said the company should disclose evidence about the outbreak before they could ask for expert opinion to back up the for 2 Sisters argued the claimants could not prove when or how they had caught the virus and if it had any connection to the January 2024 they asked for the case to be struck out at the county court in Caernarfon on the basis that Mr Edwards and the others could not prove the cause of their illness and that their claim was doomed to July, Judge Wendy Owen ruled there was no real prospect of the claim succeeding without medical evidence and no other compelling reason why the case should go to judge said the issue of causation and medical opinion was a crucial element which should have already been investigated before proceedings were commenced, and gave a summary judgement against the former workers. But permission to appeal the case was granted in December 2024 and a hearing before a High Court judge in Cardiff was held in a judgement handed down at the end of May, High Court judge Sir Peter Lane said the summary judgment process was "somewhat draconian in nature" and courts should avoid conducting what has come to be described as a "mini trial" of a Peter said Judge Owen "fell into error" in effectively conducting a "mini trial" without the benefit of the evidence that would have been available had the case been allowed to proceed to found that in a claim where the costs of an expert are likely to be significant, when set against the likely value of the claims, it is "plainly proportionate" for the former workers to have proceeded with the claim in this the appeal, he said the claimants may face "an uphill task" but Judge Owen could not be satisfied the claimants had no real prospect of date for the next hearing is yet to be decided.
North Wales Chronicle
31-05-2025
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
Staff 'caught COVID-19' while working at factory on Anglesey
Mark Edwards, Glynne Roberts, Nia Williams and Brian Perry, who worked as food processing operatives for 2 Sisters Food Group, are bringing claims against the company for damages for injuries and losses following development of symptoms of the virus in mid-2020. 2 Sisters Food Group shut its Llangefni factory in 2023. A previous court hearing found in 2 Sisters' favour, but at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre in April, Judge Sir Peter Lane allowed an appeal of this ruling from all four ex-employees. In July 2024, Judge Wendy Owen concluded that the ex-employees would face a 'nigh-on impossible task' in establishing a causal link between a breach of duty from 2 Sisters and their contracting of COVID-19. They say they were working 'shoulder to shoulder' when, in June 2020, there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Llangefni factory, and that the site was then closed at the direction of Public Health Wales. As far as they are aware, 217 of the 560 staff at the factory contracted COVID-19 during the course of the outbreak, including all four of them. 2 Sisters admits they worked in close proximity with each other but contests the 'shoulder to shoulder' claim, and refutes the suggestion that the factory's closure was directed by Public Health Wales. In his written reasons, published on Wednesday (May 28), Judge Lane wrote: 'The causation issue stands front and centre of this case. The scenario posited by the appellants was not a fanciful one. 'What is potentially relevant to the present claims is, however, the prevalence of COVID-19, certainly in the area containing the factory and perhaps further afield, depending on the places of residence of the appellants.' Judge Lane added that if evidence were to show, for example, relatively low levels of COVID-19 on Anglesey in June 2020, then 'it is plainly not fanciful for the appellants to be able to show, on the balance of probabilities, that their illness would not have been sustained but for the respondent's breach of duty'. Though he allowed their appeals, he said they 'face an uphill task' in proving their cases.
