Alexander Harris Solicitors
Jump to navigation.

Melvyn Megitt practiced as an orthodontist in Manchester until he left his practice in June 1997.

In January 1999, Mr Megitt was the subject of an investigation by the Professional Conduct Committee of the General Dental Council, the professional body which regulates dentists and orthodontists.

News of the investigation prompted by the GDC broke in mid January 1999 when details were reported in the Manchester Evening News. As a result, Alexander Harris was approached by a large number of former patients of Mr Megitt who claimed that they had been treated for a much longer period of time than would normally be necessary - in some cases treatment lasted 7 years or more, when it would normally last no more than 2 years. Some former patients also allege that Mr Megitt had asked dentists to remove healthy teeth unnecessarily, and also that he had failed to straighten their teeth properly, despite extensive work. In some cases, it is alleged that a large amount of restorative dental work had to be done to correct Mr Megitt's negligent treatment.

In May 2000, the General Dental Council struck Mr Megitt off its register for serious professional misconduct. The Committee made findings that Mr Megitt had:-

Alexander Harris are coordinating a group action against Mr Megitt, and represent in excess of 150 clients who are claiming they have suffered damage as a result of Mr Megitt's alleged negligence. Full details of the ongoing group action appear below.

Legal Update

For part of the period when Mr Megitt was practicing, he did not have the benefit of professional indemnity insurance to cover him in the event that he provided negligent treatment to his patients. Alexander Harris therefore took the precaution of obtaining a Freezing Order in May 2000, to prevent him from dissipating his own and his wife's assets in order to avoid having to pay compensation and legal costs. The Freezing Order froze assets up to the value of £2m, although this does not necessarily mean that Mr Megitt ever had access to assets of that value - a deliberately high ceiling was put on the potential value of such assets to cover all eventualities.

In February 2001, the High Court in Manchester made a Group Litigation Order. The Order grouped together all the claims that had been made up to that date in respect of compensation for personal injury arising out of treatment given by Mr Megitt between 1988 and 1996.

The Group Litigation Order was formally approved by the Lord Chief Justice in August 2001.

The Group Litigation Order set up a register of Claimants, which is updated approximately every 3 months. The court ordered that the first register should be served on Mr Megitt's solicitors by 18th February 2002. A cut-off date for joining the Group Action was set by the court - anyone who wanted to join had to do so by 4:00 pm, 28th February 2003. The Group is now closed.

The court has also ordered that the Group Action should proceed by means of 7 illustrative cases. These cases have been chosen by the Claimants' solicitors, Alexander Harris and approved by Mr Megitt's solicitors. The aim of selecting illustrative cases is to ensure that all the issues which relate to members of the group as a whole can be considered by the court, without the court having to look at every single individual case in the group. Because of the large number of Claimants involved, it would not be cost effective or an efficient use of the court's time to look at each and every case in the group individually. The illustrative cases have been carefully chosen to illustrate the types of injury that the Claimants allege that they have suffered, and the various allegations of negligence that have been made.

Very detailed evidence in respect of each of the 7 illustrative cases has been served on Mr Megitt's solicitors, who have served detailed defences in reply.

A large number of medical reports have been obtained on behalf of the Claimants from 2 eminent expert orthodontists, David Lawton and Brian Selwyn-Barnett.

There have been a number of court hearings (Case Management Conferences), which the court has set a detailed timetable for moving the Group Action forward. The most recent Case Management Conference took place on Monday 24th May 2004. The court made some procedural orders. The next Case Management Conference will take place on Tuesday 21st December 2004.

When the Group Register was first set up, there were over 200 Claimants in the group. Some Claimants have had to discontinue their cases and the most common reason for this is the fact that dental records may not always be available for treatment that was given between 10 and 20 years ago.

The Megitt Group Litigation is being coordinated by Nicholas Holmes, an Associate of Alexander Harris, under the supervision of David Harris, Senior Partner.

If you believe that you might have a legal claim relating to Orthodontist Over Treatment, please complete the online enquiry form or call 0870 024 0558. Your enquiry will be forwarded to a solicitor who specialises in Orthodontist Over Treatment.

If you have any comments in relation to Orthodontist Over Treatment, please use the online discussion forum.