The move to fix costs on gastric illness claims against travel companies could lead CMCs to look at other areas not covered by this legal change.
Abta is planning to monitor the number of legal claims made on cruises and accidents to see if there is any sudden spike in cases. There was a 500% surge in gastric illness claims against holiday companies over the past 18 months.
It comes after lead partner for travel and aviation at Deloitte, Graham Pickett, warned the Barclays Travel Forum earlier this month that claims management companies were looking to exploit Flight Compensation Ruling EU261.
Susan Deer, Abta’s senior solicitor, told the Abta Travel Law Seminar last week: “We are concerned that with those exclusions, companies could come into the market and say ‘where can we still make cruise claims and accident claims?’
“We are asking members if they are seeing any movement in these claims. We are also asking regulators to monitor any moves by CMCs in those areas."
Abta will also continue its media campaign to “deter future [sickness] claims”, as well as working with hotels on practical measures such as “recording illness when somebody comes up to hotel reception”.
“We recognise that with gastric illness there are genuine claims for which you will be liable,” added Deer. “It’s important to be able to sift those claims that do not fall into
this category.”
Claire Mulligan, a partner at law firm Kennedys, said the amount of gastric illness litigation had been “static” for the past six months.
“About 20 cases a day are being discontinued at the moment,” she added. “We are also seeing firms pulling out of the market as they realise it’s going to be run to trial and they may incur costs. That’s a very gratifying experience.”
