Hi

I'm considering raising a claim against First Choice, as they have not responded to my compensation claim. All 4 of us (2 disabled kids) were ill during a stay in one of their resorts, which essentially wiped out the holiday.

Their legal team are uncontactable, and almost 8 months has passed without them responding to us. We raised a complaint with Abta, and they originally did not reply to them either. Abta referred it to their legal team, but FC responded advising they are not prepared to use the Abta mediation service, so Abta they have closed the close. We have never received any response to our claim.

I've never raised a court claim personally before, so was was just after some general advice about potential pitfalls etc. I can see the issue fee would be about £70, but would there be further costs if the case were defended?

My Mrs is concerned about us having a shedload of costs, should our claim fail, and mentioned a counterclaim, but unsure what this is??

This is the only option open to us however if we want to pursue it, as they are completely ignoring our claim.

Small Claims would be your best way with limited cost to yourselves. How much would you be claiming for?

Small Claims would be your best way with limited cost to yourselves. How much would you be claiming for?

£1200 - the cost of the holiday basically

Hi

 

I'm considering raising a claim against First Choice, as they have not responded to my compensation claim. All 4 of us (2 disabled kids) were ill during a stay in one of their resorts, which essentially wiped out the holiday.

 

Their legal team are uncontactable, and almost 8 months has passed without them responding to us. We raised a complaint with Abta, and they originally did not reply to them either. Abta referred it to their legal team, but FC responded advising they are not prepared to use the Abta mediation service, so Abta they have closed the close. We have never received any response to our claim.

 

I've never raised a court claim personally before, so was was just after some general advice about potential pitfalls etc. I can see the issue fee would be about £70, but would there be further costs if the case were defended?

 

My Mrs is concerned about us having a shedload of costs, should our claim fail, and mentioned a counterclaim, but unsure what this is??

 

This is the only option open to us however if we want to pursue it, as they are completely ignoring our claim.

Have you not considering claiming compensation for your illness too?

Was it an AI resort?

Have you not considering claiming compensation for your illness too?

 

Was it an AI resort?

Yeah it was inclusive - last time i ever do a holiday like that.

Not really thought of compensation to be honest, was just looking to get the cost of the holiday back, as it was complete write off. Would it be likely to be granted?

Yeah it was inclusive - last time i ever do a holiday like that.

 

Not really thought of compensation to be honest, was just looking to get the cost of the holiday back, as it was complete write off. Would it be likely to be granted?

You'd have to seek formal advice from a solicitor.

If you didn't eat outside of your hotel, reported your illness to your resort rep and saw a doctor then there's a very good chance you'll get a settlement.

You'd have to seek formal advice from a solicitor.

 

If you didn't eat outside of your hotel, reported your illness to your resort rep and saw a doctor then there's a very good chance you'll get a settlement.

can tick all the boxes there, although we disdnt all see the doctor. At 90 euro a pop we just got the little one looked at

So only evidence to claim for your little one. Because you did not all get checked, that would be a problem. First Choice are likely to defend any claim, so make sure you only claim for what you can evidence.

can you possibly get any evidence of any other families on same holiday/ resort falling ill? might help getting some background in before filing a claim.

what letters have you sent to FC in regards to claiming?

So only evidence to claim for your little one. Because you did not all get checked, that would be a problem. First Choice are likely to defend any claim, so make sure you only claim for what you can evidence.

Should still all be able to make a claim for all family members, but formal legal advice from a personal injury/holiday sickness specialist lawyer is required.

In terms of additional costs, there would be a 'hearing fee' to pay if the case proceeded to a hearing. Search for court form EX50 which explains what this is. There shouldn't be much else.

You would not usually be liable to pay First Choice's legal costs in the small claims track. However you could be ordered to pay their costs if the judge finds that you 'behaved unreasonably'. This is rare but would apply if - for example - you ignore court deadlines, ignore court correspondence or part of your claim is found to be dishonest/fraudulent.

The main difficulty with a case like this would be proving it I suppose. You would need to prove on a balance of probabilities that (1) everyone in the family was actually ill, (2) the illness was caused by a problem at the resort. These things are quite difficult to prove so you need to have a think about what evidence you might be able to come up with or request from First Choice in due course - e.g. doctor's reports, was a report made, were other guests in the resort ill too, etc. etc.

In terms of procedure, you should serve a formal 'letter before action' explaining exactly what you intend to sue for and stating that a claim will be issued if a satisfactory response is not received within 14 days. You then wait 14 days for them to respond before issuing your claim. The Civil Procedure Rules require that you do this. You should be able to find reasonable templates for this online.

The main difficulty with a case like this would be proving it I suppose. You would need to prove on a balance of probabilities that (1) everyone in the family was actually ill, (2) the illness was caused by a problem at the resort.

I disagree. Why? Because:

1) Not everyone in the holiday party has to become ill.

What if I am vegetarian, and my holiday party all become ill except me, due to a meat dish that I didn't consume ......

Re-reading : do you instead mean "proving everyone we claim was ill was actually ill"? rather than "everyone in the party has to fall ill"??

2) "The illness was caused by a problem at the resort" is too broad.

There could be a problem at the resort that didn't represent a breach of duty of care by the resort.

The yardstick is "problem at the resort that represents a breach of the resort's established duty of care".

I disagree. Why? Because:

1) Not everyone in the holiday party has to become ill.

What if I am vegetarian, and my holiday party all become ill except me, due to a meat dish that I didn't consume ......

 

Re-reading : do you instead mean "proving everyone we claim was ill was actually ill"? rather than "everyone in the party has to fall ill"??

I meant to say the latter (although I see why you read it the other way as it was not clear in my original post!)

The point I am trying to make is that the Op is trying to claim for his entire party and it might be difficult to prove that everyone in the party was ill, as opposed to just one or two people. Not impossible, just potentially difficult.

2) "The illness was caused by a problem at the resort" is too broad.

There could be a problem at the resort that didn't represent a breach of duty of care by the resort.

The yardstick is "problem at the resort that represents a breach of the resort's established duty of care".

I agree

Should still all be able to make a claim for all family members, but formal legal advice from a personal injury/holiday sickness specialist lawyer is required.

My reply was based on reading about such cases. There have been loads of these cases in the media recently and one of the problems was people not getting Doctors reports fully diagnosing the exact issue, obtaining stool samples. Also whether the hotel and tour operator were informed, so they could take necessary actions

thanks for all the responses guys. We submitted a formal complaint to FC, and received acknowledgement, along with a timeframe of 6 months for it to be investiagted. 8 months on, we've heard nothing more, and despite daily attempts at contact for weeks on on end, there has been no reply to e mails, letters or phone calls. We have made numerous attempts via facebook chat which are all documentated, however they simply advise we need to speak to legal team, who we have been trying to contact in the first place.

We advised the rep (verbally) of all our illnesses, but only the 2 kids were "officially recorded", and only 1 was medically examined and has a doctors report.

We were weighing up either one of these sick holiday type claim firms, or doing a claim form ourselves.