Top law firm ‘testing the water’ with group sickness action, says leading lawyer

A major law firm specialising in personal injury has launched a growing number of group action holiday sickness claims against leading UK tour operators following a period of vastly reduced gastric illness claims since a peak in 2016-17.

Irwin Mitchell announced the launch of a High Court action against Jet2holidays last week, acting on behalf of 100 UK holidaymakers “struck down with serious illness” at a resort in Turkey.

The holidaymakers all stayed at the five-star Mukarnas Resort in Antalya between May and September 2022.

The claim alleges a “failure to comply with health and safety regulations” and accuses Jet2holidays of negligence, arguing it was “aware of the outbreak of illness and continued to send holidaymakers to the hotel”.

A Jet2holidays spokesperson declined to comment, noting lawyers have been instructed. 

However, the claim is just one of a series launched by Irwin Mitchell in recent months, including 11 group action claims filed against Tui since November over cases of gastric illness at all-inclusive resorts in Cape Verde and Mexico.

Irwin Mitchell noted in March that its lawyers are representing more than 1,400 holidaymakers who stayed at hotels in Cape Verde.

A Tui spokesperson said: “We were very sorry to hear these customers were ill during their holiday. As this is now a legal matter, we’re unable to comment further.”

Travlaw senior counsel Stephen Mason said: “We’re aware of a growing feeling that illness claims are back and the suppressive effect of the measures the government and judiciary took to hold back the avalanche [of gastric illness claims] is wearing off.”

Abta recorded a 500% increase in gastric illness claims by UK holidaymakers between 2013 and 2016, with 35,000 in 2016 alone, and put the cost of these to the industry at £240 million.

The increase in claims in the UK was not seen in other source markets, suggesting many claims were fraudulent and were fuelled by a loophole which allowed claims management firms to levy unlimited costs for overseas holiday sickness claims.

Travel Weekly launched a Fight Fake Claims campaign and Abta a Stop Sickness Scams campaign in response.

Subsequent government action, including restrictions on costs, a prohibition of claims management companies making unsolicited calls, establishment of the Package Travel Protocol for handling sickness claims and the high-profile prosecution of holidaymakers who made fraudulent claims, brought the situation under control.

Mason said: “We’re definitely seeing more individual claims, not just these group actions. But it’s a long way short of what it was at the peak. 

“The serious limitations on costs, the requirements of the Package Travel Protocol and the prosecutions for fraud had a freezing effect on the illness claims industry, and small‑claims firms went off to do something else.”

However, he said: “Irwin Mitchell is a big business and can afford to test the water to see what the climate is like now for these claims, whether enough time has elapsed for the judiciary to take a different view.

 

Strategically, this is a testing of the water.”

Abta declined to comment.