UK wins lawsuit against firm over gowns contract in COVID pandemic

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's government on Wednesday won its lawsuit against a firm at the centre of a row over the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic, with London's High Court awarding 122 million pounds ($164.3 million) in damages.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro in 2022, alleging the firm was in breach of a June 2020 contract to supply 25 million sterile surgical gowns.

The then-Conservative government was repeatedly criticised during and after the pandemic over deals awarded to those with links to people in power, including via a so-called VIP lane.

DHSC said the gowns were not properly sterilised and so could not be used in healthcare, meaning it was entitled to reject the gowns and recoup the money it spent.

PPE Medpro – a company linked to Michelle Mone, a lawmaker from the opposition Conservatives who were in power during the pandemic – argued DHSC had simply experienced "buyer's remorse" and that the gowns were provided according to the contract.

Judge Sara Cockerill ruled in the government's favour, saying the gowns were not properly validated as being sterile. She rejected the government's claim for 8.6 million pounds in storage costs.

PPE Medpro has been at the centre of a political row over PPE contracts it was awarded during the pandemic.

Mone said the decision was "shocking but all too predictable", posting a statement online which described her husband as PPE Medpro's "principal backer" and the couple as "scapegoats for this disgraceful waste of taxpayers' money".

It is unclear if the government will be able to recoup 122 million pounds from PPE Medpro, whose most recent accounts showed it has net assets of less than 700,000 pounds.

PPE Medpro filed a notice to appoint an administrator at the High Court on Tuesday, according to court records.

($1 = 0.7427 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Ed Osmond)