One of the lab firms at the centre of the CervicalCheck programme scandal has estimated that its gross liabilities from legal claims connected to CervicalCheck in Ireland against it is €49.3m.
The Dublin based Medlab Pathology Ltd has been sued in the High Court by a number of women concerning alleged failings in the firm’s participation in HSE’s CervicalCheck programme from 2011 to 2019.
New accounts - signed off in May - show that the firm recorded pre-tax losses of €17.8 million in the 12 months to the end of June 2020 chiefly as a result of the legal cases against the company.
The directors state that the firm's results for the year were “significantly impacted by the recognition of the estimated net liability in respect of claims relating to the cervical screening programme”.
They state that MedLab Pathology “holds medical malpractice liability insurance and almost all claims arising are covered by this insurance”.
A note attached to the accounts concerning the cost of the claims puts an estimate of €49.32 million on the company's 'gross legal provision'.
After taking into account insurance receivable of €30.95 million from the claims, the firm’s estimated net liability from the claims is €18.37m.
The note states that “included in the gross liability is an estimate for future claims, based on data access requests received".
The note adds that “in relation to the small number of claims for which the insurers have not yet confirmed indemnity, we used our best judgement of the liability, based on the most reliable information available”.
The directors state that subsequent to the end of 2020, there has also been the settlement and discontinuance of a number of the claims outstanding.
The company’s revenues for 2020 totalled €9.7 million - a drop of 25 per cent on the 2019 revenues of €12.95 million due mainly to the impact of Covid-19.
The directors state that “in February 2021, the pathology business was sold, and the main business of the company post sale is to manage the liabilities arising from the claims”.
The report states that the directors determined that the sale transaction “provided the best solution to maintain opportunities for staff, and the business’s ability to service patients”.
The losses for 2020 resulted in the company having a shareholders’ deficit of €14.44 million at the end of June 2020 that included accumulated losses of €23.35 million offset by share capital of €8.9 million.
The company’s cash funds increased from €1.9 million to €6.9 million. Directors' pay, including pension contributions in 2020 totalled €351,557.
Earlier this year in a written Dáil reply, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly confirmed that the State Claims Agency (SCA) had received 381 CervicalCheck claims including psychological claims brought by family members.
Minister Donnelly confirmed that in relation to the 381 claims received 212 were active and not yet concluded, 169 have concluded.
Solicitor, Cian O’Carroll continues to represent a number of plaintiffs in cases concerning the CervicalCheck programme.
Mr O’Carroll said on Thursday that his firm has no other cases in train against Medlab as either defendant or third party.
Mr O’Carroll state that in two contested cases in the High Court involving MedLab eventually settled in his clients’ favour after a number of days of evidence in each case, he said “they showed a complete absence of respect, let alone contrition, to our utterly blameless but horrifically injured clients. I am glad we don’t have to deal with Medlab again”.
