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The law firm at the centre of rugby union’s concussion lawsuit is being investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority after a former England player alleged he was pressurised into joining its group claim.
Former prop Will Green told The Telegraph, external that Richard Boardman of Rylands Garth encouraged him to sign up to the litigation even after a second scan, arranged independently of the legal action, found no signs of brain damage.
When Green refused to join the “no win, no fee” claim, he was charged thousands of pounds in legal and medical fees by Rylands Garth.
The Telegraph reported that the firm’s attempt to force the 50-year-old to pay up was dismissed in court, with the judge ruling Rylands Garth misrepresented its services and a letter of engagement was “at very best, vague, muddled and highly confusing”.
Green, who won four England caps and played for Wasps and Leinster, retired in 2007.
He said that, despite telling Rylands Garth of a second contradictory diagnosis, they “still pressed me to sign up for the group action, sending multiple emails pressuring me”.
He added: “To do so would have perpetrated a fraud on the court because the claimant’s medical experts’ diagnosis was found to be wrong.
“Yet, despite this, the claimant still tried to pursue me to sign up to the group litigation.”
“Following additional information in the court case, we can confirm that we will be looking into this before deciding on next steps,” said an SRA spokesperson.
In a statement issued on Monday, Rylands Garth said: “At no point was Mr Green lied to and that’s not what the court found.
“We believe the 37-page letter of engagement Mr Green entered into was very clear.
“We represent around 900 claimants who have suffered a form of brain injury playing the sports they adored. None have been asked to pay anything for their testing.”
However, players are at risk of being billed retrospectively by Rylands Garth if they withdraw from the lawsuit following initial testing.
“We use highly sophisticated testing, which experts consider the best in the world, rather than the less sophisticated testing used by the NHS,” the firm continued.
“Mr Green’s tests were undertaken by two highly experienced neuro-specialists, but he disagreed with the results and decided to leave the action. We asked him to pay for some of those costs, in line with the letter of engagement.”
Rylands Garth represents 295 former professional amateur rugby players including World Cup winners Steve Thompson, Phil Vickery and Mark Regan. It is also organising similar claims in rugby league and football.
The claimants allege rugby union’s governing bodies failed to put in place reasonable measures to protect their health and safety.
The Rugby Football Union made free brain health checks available to retired players who meet certain criteria in November 2021., external World Rugby wants to support similar services throughout the game., external
A trial date for the lawsuit will not be set until 2025 at the earliest.
