Court success thread

Jez_Taylor

Not all good News- 3rd Defeat!
I have just spent the morning at the County Court and have lost my case. My case was based on a 20 hour flight delay from last year following the failure of a Hydro Mechanical Unit (it works with the fuel pump).
I had originally engaged the Spanish Aviation Authority but as Thomson refused to engage with them, they found in my favour. Once again I raised the issue with Thomson's but they refused to recognise my claim so I took the case to the Court.
I have been an avid reader of this forum for the past 12 months and there is some very useful material on it. I represented myself in Court. I am not a Solicitor but am no stranger to a court room in a professional capacity so was quite happy to represent myself. Thomson's were represented by a local Barrister who was very well prepared and clearly knew the history and stated cases involving flight delays and compensation.
We spent two hours discussing the case and then waited another hour whilst the Judge reviewed the evidence. In conclusion he found that the technical issues with the Fuel Pump were exceptional circumstances and as such, Thomson's were exempt from payment of the compensation.
My entire argument relied on the Wallentin judgement and the interpretation of the meaning of the problem being 'inherent' to the operation of the aircraft. The Judge saw it differently and stated that the failure of the HMU was beyond the control of the air carrier and that Thomson did everything that was reasonably possible the rectify the issue once it had arisen. I obviously disagreed with the conclusion as I was only 2 hours away in Menorca and to wait over 20 hours to complete a 2 hour flight seems excessive.
Anyway as they say that is that. I am more then willing to offer my experiences in greater depth if it helps anyone with their claim. I don't regret bringing the claim and I disagree with the conclusion but that is life.
It is clear to me that Thomson are settling those cases nearer the time that they want to keep out of the court and anything they think is 50/50 they are happy to contest. My case today probably cost Thomson as much as I had offered to settle for but they still insisted on taking it all the way.I think mine is the 3rd case on the forum that has been lost now on Technical Issues relating to EC's. That is balanced against about 30 or so odd victory's.

jackndaz

so sorry to read you were unsuccessful, I would like to say a massive thank you to you and all the others for sharing your experiences good or bad, as it will help so many others who are still fighting, reading the valuable information this forum has really does help, I myself would not have been able to do it without the amazing advice from you guys so once again THANK YOU TO EVERYONE.:T:T:T:T

lyndac40

rajivsingh100 wrote: »

I m intrigued that amongst all these successes, people are not also demanding interest at 5-8%? that would amount to a lot given the delays of a few yrs in most cases of flights here. Why not demand that too if they make you an offer? It ll be worth more than the court fees?

Also- can you ask for the penalty to be paid in euros but obviously not into a bank account eg cash or traveller cheques? you would save on exchange rate loss especially as all of us will then be converting money later on into euros for future holidays? just a thought!

best wishes

I waived the interest for an out of court settlement.

I was told to tell United by my bank that they were to cover any exchange rate fees that may be incurred in exchanging the money from US dollars to sterling.

Lynda x

beach255_2

:beer::beer::beer::beer:

just had word from my mum that her claim (that I did online) has today received her cheque from VA in final settlement of claim.
flight details were VS75 Man - MCO 03/06/08
Timeline
Nov12 claim issued
12 June 13 claim denied as EC
18 June 13 NBA issued no formal response
15 July 13 proceedings via MCOL started
Letter from court dated 23/07 stating VA will defend in full received 26/07
Letter from VA dated 23/07 received 30/07 not accepting responsibility but including cheque for full amount in settlement.

Just now awaiting the next steps in my own claim for the same flight;)

Many thanks to all involved on this forum with the advise and information needed to pursue this claim.:T:T:T

Mark2spark

Well done beach.

Further confirmation that Virgin more often than not HAVE to be taken to court to get a payment out of them.

KillBetty

Virgin were served on July 18th, today I received a cheque for £719 ... Happy Days . My original claim was for two people 300 Euros each but with interest they ended up paying nearly £200 more than the original amount I applied for

dino25uk

Vauban wrote: »

We very much look forward to the gory details. This is I think the second defeat in court for Jet2 in short order. Well done.

Just got word that JET2 are intending to appeal the decision.
They have procrastinated throughout the whole procedure, I had to take them to court to get details of the technical issue for goodness sake.
I'm done with them, they want a fight, they've got it.

111KAB

dino25uk wrote: »

Just got word that JET2 are intending to appeal the decision.
They have procrastinated throughout the whole procedure, I had to take them to court to get details of the technical issue for goodness sake.
I'm done with them, they want a fight, they've got it.

Cannot believe Jet2 are going to appeal - Monarch threatened this after my Court hearing and then backed off realising the stupidity of their statement "we are considering an appeal".

friendofbillw2

dino25uk wrote: »

Just got word that JET2 are intending to appeal the decision.
They have procrastinated throughout the whole procedure, I had to take them to court to get details of the technical issue for goodness sake.
I'm done with them, they want a fight, they've got it.

That could be very interesting.

Small claims in the County Court do not set quotable legal precedents. Appeals to a higher court will.

It's a HIGH STAKES GAME (writ large) if Jet2 do decide to appeal this.

Vauban

A saw one failure today:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4729352

But also another success:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62703532&postcount=2306

Not sure what tally we're now on though ...