Lunchtime webinar: Athens claims – tricky hazards to navigate

Alex Carington

Alex’s practice encompasses 12KBW’s core areas with particular focus on travel, serious personal injury, clinical negligence, fraudulent claims and inquests.

Alex is recognised as a leading junior in Legal500 in travel law as “punching well above his weight and is already an established specialist in Athens Conventions claims”.

• Advised and settled a claim concerning a lion attack whilst the claimants were on a walking safari in Tanzania.
• Defended a supplier of hotel entertainment activities in a claim against multiple defendants after the minor claimant dived into a swimming pool and suffered catastrophic spinal injuries.
• Advised on a claim concerning clinical negligence whilst on a cruise ship.
• Secured a judgment for a claimant at trial who was injured whilst skiing in France
• Defended at Athens Convention claim in the Admiralty court where the Claimant slipped and fell after disembarking from the ship. The claim provided useful guidance for point at which disembarkation ends in the context of a modern cruise ship.

Lois Aldred

Travel litigation is a central pillar of Lois’ work with a significant proportion of her work being in the field.  She works for major tour operators, airlines and international insurers and is recognised for her skill and experience in the field.

Lois advises and acts in all types of claim involving accidents abroad or during travel.

Her considerable experience firstly as a PI practitioner means that she is sought in claims involving very serious illness, mass illness outbreaks, legionnaires contamination and accidents that result in life-changing injuries.

More generally Lois has experience in cases involving most aspects of travel litigation and is experienced in dealing with the jurisdictional and evidential issues arising in such cases.

Lois is regularly instructed in cases involving a considering the applicability of the Athens Convention.

Recent interesting cases in the field include:

• Advising and successfully representing a claimant in amending a claim under CPR 17.4 brought after two but just within three years of his disembarkation from a cruise by relying on Section 32 Limitation Act 1980.  The application required extensive consideration of the relevance of CPR 17.3 and 17.4 and the whether the defendant’s response to a letter of claim was sufficiently misleading to amount to the deliberate concealment of a fact relevant to the claimant’s right of action pursuant to s32.
• Acting for a French insurer defending a serious injury claim brought by a professional cyclist arising in respect of an accident during a professional cycling tour in France.

Lois has particular interest in claims involving accidents in France and francophone countries, having studied French Law in Strasbourg.  Lois can also bring useful insight to cultural issues involving claims with a Japanese element, having lived and worked in Japan prior to becoming a barrister.