Rise in sexual assault personal injury claims alarms industry lawyers

Industry lawyers report a rise in personal injury claims, including sexual assault claims, brought under the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs).

Claire Mulligan, partner at law firm DWF, told the recent Abta Travel Law Seminar in London: “There are lots of sickness claims, sexual assault claims, cycling claims, slips and trips, and ski claims.”

She described travel firms as “responsible for more and more” and said: “We see a rise in sexual assaults in spas, among bar staff and [among] teenage guests.”

Barrister Sarah Prager KC of DEKA Chambers agreed, saying: “There is an increase in sexual assault cases. These are being targeted quite aggressively by claims firms, which is odd because they’re not worth as much as you might expect and they’re difficult to bring.”

She recalled dealing with one claim under the PTRs brought by a hotel guest assaulted by a man staying at another hotel, saying: “The claim was that the hotel receptionist should have prevented him [the assailant] going to her [the claimant’s] room.”

Prager noted: “Cases need to be handled very carefully. Judges are likely to side with claimants on this.”

Industry lawyers are concerned not that sexual assaults should result in court cases but that tour operators could be found liable under the Package Travel Regulations for events in resort over which they have no control.

This follows a Supreme Court ruling in 2021 in the case of X vs Kuoni which found a package organiser responsible under the regulations for a customer subject to a sexual assault in a resort hotel even though the hotel was found not responsible because the assailant was not directly employed by the hotel.

Travlaw partner Krystene Bousfield noted “the PR aspect of this” and said the claims now being brought involve “not just [assaults] between staff and consumers, [but also] between consumer and consumer and staff to staff.”