Scotland's leading claimant personal injury legal firm, Thompsons Solicitors, announced that they have taken court action against Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC and Health Minister Andy Kerr MSP.
At a news conference in Glasgow, Solicitor Advocate, Frank Maguire, revealed that he has petitioned the Court of Session calling for a Judicial Review of their failure to hold a Judicial Inquiry into deaths caused to a number of individuals who contracted Hepatitis C following the administration of blood products or blood transfusions.
Mr Maguire is acting on behalf of relatives of those who died and was accompanied at the news conference by the wife and daughters of the late Alex McArthur who died in 2000 and the daughters of the late Eileen O'Hara who died in 2003. Also attending was Mr Philip Dolan, chairman of the Scottish Haemophilia Groups.
Thompsons believe that both the Lord Advocate and the Health Minister are in breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights as they've failed to hold a prompt public inquiry into the deaths of those who contracted Hepatitis C.
Mr Maguire said: "Article 2 calls on the State to safeguard the lives of its citizens and places a duty on State authorities to hold an inquiry if it's believed they could have caused a death or put life at risk. In particular this obligation to hold an inquiry refers to health care where individuals are under the care and responsibility of NHS.
"The purpose of such an Inquiry is for relatives to have a full explanation as to why a loved one died, to expose the full facts surrounding their death, bring to light any negligent or discreditable conduct, and to reassure the public that it will not happen again.
"Relatives would also have the satisfaction of knowing that lessons had been learned from the deaths of a loved one and a life may be saved in the future.
"Our position is that it is not up to the Lord Advocate or the Health Minister to decide whether or not to hold an Inquiry. They are obliged to do so in terms of Article 2."
Mr Dolan said there had been many calls for a public inquiry into why over 500 Scots had contracted Hepatitis C from blood transfusions and now their patience had run out with the delaying tactics of the Crown Office.
He said: "Back in 1999 at the start of the new Scottish Parliament a petition calling for an inquiry was presented to the Petitions committee. MSPs of all parties signed it including Cathy Jamieson, now Justice Minister, Hugh Henry, now Deputy Justice Minister and Margaret Curran, now Minister for Parliament.
"If they felt strongly enough to sign our petition back then why can't they take action now they are the Ministers with responsibility for the actions of the Crown Office."
Speaking on behalf of her family, Mrs Mary McArthur said it was suspected her husband Alex had contracted Hepatitis C after he'd received a kidney transplant in 1984 but it wasn't until 1992 that he was told and that was two years after doctors had found out.
Mrs McArthur said: "Alex was a fit man. He was keen on sports; he played football and was the tennis club champion. Until his kidney problems he'd hardly had a day's illness. My family and I just want to find out how he came to be infected with Hepatitis C and who was responsible."
Those feelings were echoed by Annette O'Hara, whose mum Eileen died in 2003. Mrs O'Hara received blood transfusions in both 1985 and 1991 in connection with heart surgery and was discovered to have Hepatitis C in 1995.
Annette said: "A few years after her heart surgery my mum developed liver problems that were so bad her own doctor thought they were due to alcohol abuse yet she didn't drink. That accusation upset her a lot. My family believe she got Hepatitis C after her heart surgery in 1985 but it wasn't diagnosed until 1995. By that time she had cirrhosis of the liver and other complications. Our family want some answers as to what went wrong and who was responsible and believe we are entitled to an explanation"