£2.5 million Compensation for Snowmobile Accident
12 July 2010
Following an afternoon of tough negotiation with the legal team for the Defendant (Inghams Travel) Stewarts Law secured compensation of £2.5 million for their client Emma Moore. In addition the Defendant agreed to pay Emma's legal costs in full. Emma sustained T5 paraplegia in a snowmobile accident in Italy whilst on an excursion that had been arranged by Inghams, with whom she and friends had booked a skiing holiday. Inghams staunchly denied liability and ran a secondary argument that even if there had been any fault it should be attributed to a Mr Tantera who ran these snowmobile trips for them in the Italian ski resort of Passo Tonale. He was then dragged into these Proceedings by Inghams, but he also denied liability and his insurers denied coverage.
Just 4 months ago, on 22 February 2010, Mr Justice Owen handed down Judgment in the High Court finding Inghams liable on a 70% basis. Consequently the full liability value of this settlement is close to £3.6 million. Emma Moore commented:
"I am ecstatic after fighting so long and hard and not even knowing whether or not I would get compensation. For the last 3 years I have been unable to get upstairs to my children's bedrooms and life has been a struggle in many ways. Finally, I have the funds to be able to move into a fully wheelchair-accessible home and get all the equipment and support that I need for me and my family to have a life as close as possible to the one we had before my accident".
Julian Chamberlayne, Head of Travel Law at Stewarts Law who represented Emma in this claim added:
"This is a tremendous result for Emma in what was a very difficult and hard fought claim. Accidents which happen abroad often throw up some tricky issues and are all the more challenging when they involve adventurous sports like snowmobiling. The fact is this is an accident that should not have happened, had Emma been given the appropriate training. Because Inghams arranged and profited from the snowmobile trip it was right that they should compensate her".