Why hasn't holiday operator legal statute of liability been enforced?

[renegadelampshade]

Following a rough year with a part of my redundancy payout I went on an expensive, 5*, all inclusive, holiday last August.
It was more money than I would usually spend on a holiday, with a very well known company with are both ABTA and ATOL recognised.

Having been there two nights, three days and studiously following all procedures when travelling, I was very ill and I was hospitalised.
I had caught an illness that I could only have contracted while I was at the resort.

When I came home I was again hospitalised immediately and have been hospitalised with the same problem 5 further times.
I am usually fit and have no underlying health problems.

Although I am not usually litigious by nature I contacted a solicitor, who took a full history and filed papers against the holiday company.
The holiday company had 6 months to admit or deny liability.

Originally, all I wanted was the cost of an equivalent holiday back and my out of pocket expenses reimbursed.
However, as the time since my holiday has gone on I have lost thousands in earnings and further expenses.

The 6 months for them to admit or deny liability passed some weeks ago, I contacted my solicitor who told me that they knew that the operator's solicitors had been 'very busy'.
I told my solicitor that this was not a satisfactory response.

Now I am still waiting for a response from the operator's solicitor. I know they may not admit liability but by law they had 6 months to state their response, one way or another.

Is there anything further I can do to hurry up a response? What is the point in a law if they don't have to adhere to it? Can they be forced to admit or deny their liability as the 6 month limit has passed now by a long way.

Why do you think the holiday operator was liable? You went somewhere. you got ill.

If you had gone to London and caught something would you sue the railway company?

It depends cd.

If I was staying at an excellent London hotel I wasn't and didn't and contracted food poisoning that could be directly attributable to the food I ate there.

Then that food poisoning was bad enough for me to be hospitalised repeatedly and have a vastly detrimental effect on my life over the ensuing time physically, mentally and materially, possibly forever, then yes I really pursue a claim against them.

In my original post I made it clear that I am not litigious, I never have been. I won't go into the details here but this has been serious, at times life threatening.

If you had a car accident which affected your life in this way you would expect the insurance to pay you compensation for your injuries.

However, that wasn't my question. My question was and still is whether I can do anything to expedite their decision.

Thank you for your input.

Where did the six months come from? I can't think of any relevant legal time limit that would be six months.

Each type of claim (contract, personal injury, etc) has a time period beyond which the defendant can rely on a Limitation Act defence if court proceedings were not brought in time. You sound quite confused and could probably do with clarifying what is going on with your solicitor.

I would guess your solicitor has written to them and asked for a response by the six month deadline. This is not legally enforceable. It's just to try to keep things moving along.

Where did the six months come from? I can't think of any relevant legal time limit that would be six months

It comes from the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims. Under paragraph 6.4 the normal time limit of 3 months to respond to a Letter of Claim is extended to 6 months where the event giving rise to the claim occurred outside England & Wales.

renegadelampshade - This time limit is not laid down in law. It is part of the Pre-Action Protocol. The operator's failure to comply with the time limit will be taken into account by the court when making directions about how the proceedings will be managed and also when deciding who will pay costs. All you can really do at this stage is keep chasing your solicitor to chase the operator's solicitor.

Thank you for explaining prh and it helps to know that the delay would go in my favour in a court.

I'll get back on to my solicitor asap.

Have you contacted your travel insurer?

I am sick to death of all these people claiming and using ambulance chasing lawyers to do it. Thankfully today the holiday comapnies have struck back and one is suing a claimant (in that case the family lied about the illness) for £170k damages and the family will lose their house, thank goodness.

These kinds of claims have led to increases in holiday prices which many of us then have to pay.

Janet I was sick and close to death and I am still suffering, I was hospitalised most recently last month.
I'm not using an 'ambulance chasing lawyer' and I most certainly haven't lied on any count.
There is full and extensive medical evidence to reinforce my claim.

Again, I'm not usually litigious, I've never made a claim against any other company in my life, including car insurance when I had a bad accident not my fault in 2013 and quite rightly too as I wasn't injured.

My claim is absolutely not of the 'I found a hair on the side of my bath after the cleaners had been in' type.

I would prefer to pay a tiny increase in the price of my holiday if it meant that everyone was safe and no-one else had to suffer as I have. A holiday is a luxury, not an entitlement. The situation I have suffered would easily have killed someone older or infirm. I am not going to go into further detail here but there are some fairly unique circumstances surrounding my claim.

I agree that false and spurious claims push the price of everything up for everyone but my claim is neither false nor spurious. A holiday company has a duty of care to it's customers every bit as much as any other company.

Again, thank you for your input.

You should push your solicitor to serve them with court papers if they haven't responded. If nothing else it should prompt a response and your solicitor can negotiate for them to meet your costs and set the case aside, i.e. you shouldn't have to worry about paying the court and solicitor's fees for this action.