Holiday claim - no win no fee?

bestyman

Hi,
I hope this is posted in the right place.To cut a long story short..

We got married abroad last year and part half of the holiday was on a cruise. We boarded the cruise ship unaware of problems onboard, the ships management/tour company knew of problems but failed to tell us.

Food was terrible, norovirus on board, staff shortages, fellow passengers ill . I became Ill and spent most of my honeymoon ill .

Wrote to tour op on return and they are not denying it but offered £500 compensation - full holiday cost was 3k plus I think compensation for ruined honeymoon, pain and suffering etc .

I have found a solicitor who will work on no win no fee ( conditional fee agreement ) but I understand they will try reclaim legal fees back from tour op, but and shortfall will be met by me. My worry is that if I am awarded say £5,000 and they refuse to pay all the solicitors fees and I am left to pay them I may end up with little change out of 5k ( £300 an hour was mentioned)

Would I be better offf simply issuing in the small claims court for cost of hol + pain and suffering , keeping it under 5k so no fees to any anyone?

My mother had a very large chunk of her compensation took by solicitors fees and dont want this happening to me .

Would I be better off simply paying a solicitor to deal with this ( £300 an hour seems a lot ) . The case has a very good chance.

Please help

Bestyman

jonesMUFCforever

Was the tour operator ABTA bonded?
If so their arbitration service is free for you to use and the company must abide by the decision.
You can also still reserve the right to sue after.

Astaroth

Do you have legal expenses insurance on your home policy? They may well cover a claim such as this irrespective of if it goes through the small or fast track of the court (ie irrespective of if it is under or over £5k)

bestyman

Thanks,

May try the ABTA thing.


Home insurance wriggled out saying that as the incident happened abroad its not covered.

Astaroth

But the contract was formed in the UK and would be governed by English Law... guess would have to read the T&Cs

bestyman

Hi,
Yes your right ( my fault ,sorry should have explained better ) . The home insurance would cover the contract side but not the claim for injury . This would mean having 2 seperate solicitors and still having to pay one of them

Astaroth

Sorry, didnt read the post fully - thought that all of the claim was for inconvenience/ spoilt honeymoon rather than any actual claim for injury.

£300/ hr is mid-high price for a solicitor - you would need to make sure that they are appointing a solicitor of the correct "level" for the complexity of the claim. One of our inhouse solicitor's rate is about £600/ hr but we can only claim his rate on the massive multi-track cases and for any of the minor cases he deals with to help out his team he will claim £150/ hr

If the injury comes under UK law then there should be solicitors that will deal with it totally on a no-win, no-fee basis (conditional funding) but the complexity of this is that if you dont get 100% liability from the other side or if it were go to court after the other side has made an offer (part 36 offer) which you have rejected but the court rules was fair then you would be liable for the other sides solicitors costs. To protect you against this there is after the incident insurance or signing credit agreements etc which are irrecoverable losses.