Gene Matthews

International and group claim

Gene has over a decade of experience specialising in international tort, human rights and product liability claims. He was appointed a partner in 2010. He currently jointly leads a team of lawyers representing a large number of Iraqi citizens who allege they were subjected to unlawful detention and treatment by British Forces in Iraq in the period 2003-09, a significant number of these cases resolved in 2012-13. He leads the team bringing a claim on behalf of 21 Peruvians against Xstrata Plc, who allege that they were subjected to human rights abuses, unlawful imprisonment and assaults during a protest at the Tintaya mine, Peru in 2012. Gene has a particular interest in product liability and has worked on the successful group litigation relating to defective hip replacements. He has also resolved a number of cases involving defective heart valves and pacemakers. He represented over 200 British military veterans exposed to chemical warfare agents, allegedly without their informed consent, at the Porton Down military laboratories from the 1940s-1980s. In 2009, he successfully resolved the claims of four of the clinical volunteers who suffered life threatening injuries as participants in the infamous TGN1412 drug trial at Northwick Park Hospital. He is currently instructed by a group of claimants who allege that Zimmer Durom hip components are defective and have caused them unnecessary pain and suffering. He has recently been instructed by an individual who has suffered significant brain injury allegedly as a result of his involvement in a clinical trial for a new drug (a JAK inhibitor).