The Supreme Court addresses the ‘tort gateway’ in Brownlie
A widow’s claim over a fatal car crash in Cairo has been disallowed by the Supreme Court, in a long-awaited case on personal injury outside the EU.
In Brownlie v Four Seasons Holdings [2017] UKSC 80, Lady Brownlie, the widow of leading international lawyer Sir Ian Brownlie QC, sued the holding company of Four Seasons Hotel Cairo both in tort and in contract over a car accident in January 2010. Before leaving England for Egypt, she had phoned the hotel to book a chauffeur-driven tour, having picked up a hotel leaflet about the tour on a previous visit. Tragically, the car crashed, killing Sir Ian and his daughter, Rebecca, and seriously injuring Lady Brownlie and Rebecca’s two children.
Before Lady Brownlie could serve her claim form on Four Seasons Holdings in Canada, she first had to seek permission from the court for service outside England and Wales. The Court of Appeal allowed her contractual claim and her claim under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, but disallowed her claim under the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 (as Sir Ian’s executrix) and her claim for damages for her own injuries.
The Supreme Court, however, unanimously allowed Four Seasons Holdings’ appeal. It held that the Cairo hotel was owned and operated by Holdings’ Egyptian subsidiary, therefore there was no realistic prospect of their being held liable. As the driver’s actions were covered by Egyptian law, the 1976 Act did not apply.
Paul McClorry, head of travel litigation at Hudgell Solicitors, said: ‘Whilst the defendant succeeded in its appeal due to the corporate identity of the contracting party, the most significant comments are obiter.
‘By a 3:2 majority, the Supreme Court judges reaffirmed the previous line of authorities which provide greater access to justice through the English courts for English domiciled claimants who are seriously injured in a non-EU Member State. This is the first case that has found its way to the Supreme Court on the very important issue of the “tort gateway”; several cases were on hold pending this decision, so expect more developments in this area in the coming months and years.’
