Hugh Preston appears at the European Court of Justice on vaccine damage case
30 June 2009
On 30th June 2009 Hugh Preston appeared at the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in the latest chapter of the long running case of O’Byrne v Aventis Pasteur.
Domestic law allows for a new defendant to be substituted for a defendant named in error in the original proceedings, notwithstanding that the limitation period may have expired prior to the substitution order being made.
In O’Byrne the defendant has argued that such provisions are inconsistent with the EC Directive on Product Liability and the absolute extinction of the consumer’s rights 10 years from the date the product is first put into circulation.
This issue has so far been considered in this case by the High Court in 2003, by the ECJ in 2006, by the Court of Appeal in 2007 and by the House of Lords in 2008.
However, the House of Lords considered that the matter was still not acte Claire and referred the issue back to the ECJ for a second ruling on the issue. It is hoped that this long-running dispute is now drawing to a close, and that a final answer will be given by the Supreme Court after the ECJ has considered this latest request for a ruling.
Hugh Preston has been instructed with Simeon Maskrey QC throughout the proceedings.