Holiday dancing routine leads to legal action

Our client was staying at a package holiday resort in the Dominican Republic and visited the resort's auditorium for evening entertainment which led to him suffering a foot injury.

He was encouraged by the host to come up on stage and reluctantly agreed after some cajoling. Two members of staff gave a brief, basic performance of the 'lift' scene in the film Dirty Dancing and then encouraged members of the audience to copy them, with the best pair winning a T-shirt. No training was provided.

Our client was paired with a rather large lady who came running towards him, jumped on him and caused him to lose his footing and fall backwards. He sustained a mid-foot fracture dislocation of the right foot which caused him a small degree of permanent impairment and prevented him from continuing his pre-accident occupation as a long-distance lorry driver.

We pursued a claim against the tour operator under the Package Travel Regulations 1995. Liability was denied by the company. After a trial at Northampton County Court, judgment was given in favour of the claimant and the defendant was refused leave to appeal. Our client was awarded £25,000 compensation plus the costs of pursuing the claim.

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