The Times: Water watchdog chief seeks to stem consumers’ sewage lawsuits
“A director of England’s water regulator is spearheading a campaign that could make it harder for consumers to sue water companies that breach legal sewage limits.
Seema Kennedy, a former Conservative minister, is the executive director of a group that is trying to tighten the funding rules for class action lawsuits and end what it calls the “predatory claims culture”.
Critics have claimed that her role represents a conflict of interest amid a continuing legal battle between consumers and five of Britain’s largest water companies over untreated sewage.
Kennedy is also a paid senior adviser to the lobbying firm Global Counsel, which works for the industry body that represents all the UK’s big water companies. Global Counsel has also previously carried out work for the anti-class action campaign.
Government rules state that directors of public bodies must ensure that “no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between your public duties and your private interests, financial or otherwise”. In a statement Kennedy said there was “no conflict” with her position at Ofwat and other paid roles.
Kennedy was appointed as the executive director of Fair Civil Justice in 2022 — two years after being appointed by ministers as a non-executive director of Ofwat.
Fair Civil Justice campaigns for restrictions on third-party funding of class action that cover legal costs in exchange for a share of any awarded damages or settlements.
They describe such cases as “predatory litigation” that is a “drag on growth”. However, anti-pollution campaigners have said that such restrictions could potentially damage cases such as a class action being brought against Severn Trent water and potentially five other water companies.
Lawyers claim that the companies provided misleading information to Ofwat and the Environment Agency by under-reporting sewage pollution.
This, they claim, allowed the companies to charge bill payers more than they otherwise would have been able to. The claim is brought on behalf of twenty million customers, who may have been overcharged by between £800 million to £1.5 billion.
Professor Carolyn Roberts, emeritus professor at Gresham College in London, who is the lead claimant in the case, said that it had only been possible to bring the case because of outside funding. “It would not have been possible to bring my case and hold these companies to account without the support of litigation funders and the expertise of lawyers,” she said.
