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| 29/07/2008 |
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USA sentence |
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A sentence dictated in the USA creates a precendence for thetribunal to make a study of possible allegations made against Spanish hotels by American and Canadian clients in cases of third party detriment, in the country where the establishment is to be found and not at the tribunal of the country of origen of the client.
This resolution could affect the Spanish hoteliers with hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean favourably, and who in some cases have been involved in lawsuits of American and Canadian lawyers who are asking for compensation of millions. With this recent sentence of an American judge an important precendence has been created for civil responsability presented against hotel chains who operate abroad.
This aforementioned resolution, which was dictated two months ago, although has been in litigation for the last five years, corresponds to the so called "Gianocostas Case". In this matter the Spanish hotel chain and the Touroperator were sued for medical negligence before the court of Massachussets (U.S.A), due to the death of a tourist who had diabetes and had been staying at the hotel of the aforementioned chain of hotels, situated in the Dominican Republic. Although the death took place in a hospital of Miami, the parents of the deceased sued the hotel and the touroperator for medical negligence, considering that the hotel hadn't acted sufficiently in the days prior to the transfer of the client to the U.S.A. The judge determined that the authorised jurisdiction to investigate the case and return a verdict to the corresponding claims of the plaintiffs was the Dominican Republic, the place where the reported incident took place and not in the U.S.A as was asked for by the claimant.
This sentece is the result of a Majorcan law firm Mon-Lex, directed by Mr. José Antonio Fernández de Alarcón together with collaborators in Miami, Massachussets and the Dominican Republic. Mr. Alarcón has confirmed that its contents are being consulted in order to solve similar cases that until now international hoteliers have been submitted to American jusirdiction. |
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