Harrods challenges survivors' law firm's compensation cut
Harrods is urging lawyers acting for the largest group of survivors of abuse perpetrated by its former owner to reconsider plans to swallow a significant chunk of claimants' compensation payouts in fees.
Sky News has learnt that KP Law, which is acting for hundreds of potential clients under the banner Justice for Harrods, is proposing to take up to 25% of compensation awards in exchange for handling their cases.
In many cases, that is likely to mean survivors foregoing sums worth of tens of thousands of pounds to KP Law, which says it is working for hundreds of people who suffered abuse committed by Mohamed al Fayed.
Money latest:
Under a redress scheme outlined by the London-based department store on Monday, which confirmed earlier reports by Sky News, claimants will be eligible for general damages awards of up to £200,000, depending upon whether they agree to a psychiatric assessment arranged by Harrods.
In addition, other payments could take the maximum award to an individual under the scheme to £385,000.
A document published online names several law firms which have agreed to represent Mr al Fayed's victims without absorbing any of their compensation payments.
KP Law is not among those firms.
Theoretically, if Justice for Harrods members are awarded compensation in excess of the sums proposed by the company, KP Law could stand to earn many millions of pounds from its share of the payouts.
A Harrods spokesperson told Sky News on Tuesday: "The purpose of the Harrods Redress Scheme is to offer financial and psychological support to those who choose to enter the scheme, rather than as a route to criminal justice.
"With a survivor-first approach, it has been designed by personal injury experts with the input of several legal firms currently representing survivors.
"Although Harrods tabled the scheme, control of the claim is in the hands of the survivors who can determine at any point to continue, challenge, opt out or seek alternative routes such as mediation or litigation.
"Our hope is that everyone receives 100% of the compensation awarded to them but we understand there is one exception among these law firms currently representing survivors who is proposing to take up to 25% of survivors' compensation.
"We hope they will reconsider given we have already committed to paying reasonable legal costs."
Responding to the publication of the scheme on Monday, KP Law criticised it as inadequate, saying it "does not go far enough to deliver the justice and accountability demanded by our clients".
"This is not solely a question of compensation but about justice and exposing the systematic abuse and the many people who helped to operate it for the benefit of Mohamed al Fayed and others."
Seeking to rebut the questions raised by Harrods about its fee structure, KP Law told Sky News: "KP Law is committed to supporting our clients through the litigation process to obtain justice first and foremost as well as recovering the maximum possible damages for them.
"This will cover all potential outcomes for the case.
"Despite the Harrods scheme seeking to narrow the potential issues, we believe that there are numerous potential defendants in a number of jurisdictions that are liable for what our clients went through, and we are committed to securing justice for our client group.
"KP Law is confident that it will recover more for its clients than what could be achieved through the redress scheme established by Harrods, which in our view is inadequate and does not go far enough to compensate victims of Mr al Fayed."
The verbal battle between Harrods and KP Law underlines the fact that the battle for compensation and wider justice for survivors of Mr al Fayed remains far from complete.
The billionaire, who died in 2023, is thought to have sexually abused hundreds of women during a 25-year reign of terror at Harrods.
He also owned Fulham Football Club and Paris's Ritz Hotel.
Harrods is now owned by a Qatari sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Gulf state's ruling family.
The redress scheme commissioned by the department store is being coordinated by MPL Legal, an Essex-based law firm.
Last October, lawyers acting for victims of Mr al Fayed said they had received more than 420 enquiries about potential claims, although it is unclear how many more have come forward in the six months since.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘We don't want to be a niche brand': Seaweed is taking plastic out of stadiums and sandwich boxes
If you're lucky enough to be seeing Beyoncé at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London this month, chances are your concert snacks will come in a container made out of seaweed. Notpla, the company which makes seaweed-based packaging to replace single-use plastics, has gone from strength to strength since winning the Earthshot Prize in 2022, bagging a prize of €1 million in the global environmental award created by the UK's Prince William. The venture started with its two French and Spanish founders, Pierre Paslier and Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, experimenting in their student kitchen while at Imperial College London. Now, Notpla has replaced more than 21 million items of single-use plastic across Europe, and is aiming to displace 1 billion units by 2030. In order to make a real dent in the insidious issue of plastic pollution, the 'disappearing packaging' solution is being rolled out in new venues and fashioned into new shapes and sizes. We caught up with chief revenue officer Lise Honsinger, Notpla's first employee in 2017, to find out more. Related Nappies, smartphone glass, and cigarette butts are piling up in Europe. How can we recycle them? Notpla's prototype was an edible water capsule called Ooho. It garnered viral interest in 2017, which Honsinger partly attributes to a 'zeitgeist' of plastic pollution awareness. The start-up partnered with Lucozade to replace 36,000 plastic bottles at the London Marathon in 2019. Then COVID hit, events stopped, and the company pivoted to focus on seaweed coatings for food packaging which make takeaway boxes compostable like fruit peel. In partnership with Just Eat, Notpla's packaging was used at the UEFA Women's Final at Wembley Stadium, London in 2022. From seven types of folded carton board boxes that year, it has grown into a catalogue of over 50 different designs. Imagine pretty much any food packaging you'd pick up from a street food van - burger clam shells, chip trays and forks, churros scoops - and there's a seaweed-coated alternative. There is a purity to Notpla's vision - which clearly impressed the Earthshot Prize judges. Winning in the 'Build a Waste-free World' category further 'unlocked credibility', as Hosinger puts it. 'We're not going for the easiest win,' she says. 'We're not going to mix our product with a bit of plastic to make a semi-natural product because that's a bit easier. We're going to go for it even if it's the hardest thing, to make sure it's truly natural.' Related From Taylor Swift to Olympics host, how can Europe's largest indoor venue be sustainable? This Earthshot Prize finalist is using DNA sequencing to create sustainable clothing dyes Notpla products are now used at major stadiums and venues in the UK, including the Kia Oval, The Principality, Tottenham Hotspurs, Aston Villa, The Aviva, Twickenham and the ExCel Centre. The Johan Cruijff Arena in the Netherlands is on board too, and Levy - part of the Compass Group catering company which Notpla works with - has just won a contract with stadiums in Germany. That's all part of a 'step change' to spread across Europe and the US, Honsinger says. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Notpla (@notpla) The aim is to make the switch as friction-free as possible, and Notpla products can fit into whatever waste stream the stadium already uses, from composting to recycling or general waste. Meanwhile, IKEA has just rolled out Notpla's seaweed-based packaging in its new Oxford Street London restaurant. And the company is launching a new deli range, featuring plastic-free windows so people can see their sandwiches before buying. Honsinger hopes this will help Notpla branch out into office catering and museums, where that sneak peek is important. 'We absolutely want this solution to be everywhere. We don't want to be a niche packaging brand,' she says. The plan is to go upstream over the next few years - providing coatings to board manufacturers, for example, rather than selling boxes to box buyers. Ultimately, Honsinger wants Notpla to become a household name, in the realm of Tetra Pak or Gore-Tex. 'Everyone will know, if I've got a packaging that's Notpla, it's not got plastic in it, it's not got forever chemicals, it's not going to give me cancer - because I think the world's woken up to the health consequences of plastics as well.' Related Coca-Cola and Unilever among dozens of plastic brands tied to Texas fracking, investigation reveals With seaweed extracts from France, Spain (ROKO) and South America, Notpla is fashioning its wonder ingredient into various new shapes and sizes. The scientists are working on creating cold and hot cups, for example, while Notpla continues to develop its existing solutions - like speeding up the manufacture of Oohos. But there are limits to this R&D. 'The reason plastic is everywhere is because it's not natural,' Honsinger explains; it forms a complete barrier to oxygen, water, and grease. Seaweed is never going to be the same as plastics, she says, and that's a good thing. 'You've got to remember the reason why it hasn't got as extreme properties as plastic is the reason it will break down in nature.' Related Deep discoveries, landmark lawsuits and rising renewables : Positive environmental stories from 2025 Notpla created the Natural Polymers Groups with some of its competitors last year. It bears the distinction of being the only plastic-free alternative to meet the EU Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD), according to the Dutch government, which carried out extensive testing in 2023. With regulations on single-use plastics and forever chemicals (PFAS) tightening up, the future is bright for alternatives like Notpla. Are plastics companies aware of their seaweed competitor yet? 'I think mostly at the moment we're not big enough to scare them,' says Hosinger. 'But I think they know it's coming.'
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump announces US-China trade talks in London next week
Senior United States officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade talks, Donald Trump said on Friday. The scheduled meeting comes after a phone call between the US President and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday. Mr Trump described it as a 'very positive' conversation, as the two countries attempt to break an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent the US side in the discussions 'The meeting should go very well,' Mr Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr Trump said Mr Xi had agreed to restart exports of rare earth minerals and magnets to the US which China had slowed, threatening a range of manufacturers that relied on the critical materials. The was no immediate confirmation from Beijing, The conversation between Mr Trump and Mr Xi, who lead the world's two biggest economies, lasted about an hour and a half, according to the US president. The Chinese foreign ministry has said the White House initiated the call. The ministry said Xi asked Mr Trump to 'remove the negative measures' that the US has taken against China. It also said that Trump said 'the US loves to have Chinese students coming to study in America', although his administration has vowed to revoke some of their visas.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Trump's China Gambit Belies Rocky Road Ahead on Tariff Deals
President Donald Trump has come up short on striking trade deals with most nations with just one month left before his self-imposed tariff deadline, even as he took his first steps in weeks toward engaging with China. Trump secured a much-desired call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, paving the way for a new round of talks on Monday in London — yet the diplomacy was overshadowed by a blowout public fight between Trump and his billionaire onetime ally, Elon Musk.
