London firm Edwin Coe is considering group action against some lawyers who represented victims in the successful litigation over PIP breast implants after claimants were denied damages for technical reasons.

The Court of Appeal in Paris yesterday ruled that compensation should be awarded to thousands of women who said they had suffered long-term harm after receiving implants made from industrial-grade silicone not cleared for human use. Up to 400,000 women may have received the substandard implants. However 6,200 claims were ruled to be inadmissible due to a lack of evidential proof being submitted.

David Greene, senior partner at Edwin Coe LLP, said: ‘It is sad that whilst many women will be celebrating this victory there are thousands who were dismissed from the case for technical reasons and are not being compensated notwithstanding the pain and suffering caused by, literally, the poison that was put in them.

‘This was a matter of French law and we are looking at the circumstances in which these thousands of cases were dismissed and whether appropriate action at the time might have led to those thousands also celebrating the win today.’

Edwin Coe said it intends to look into all aspects of the case and to investigate various possible causes of action including for negligence, conflict of interest, breach of data protection and a failure of client care. It has invited potential claimants to pre-register for the group action.