Trials and tribulations

Rodney Gould, a travel attorney at Rubin Hay & Gould in Framingham, Mass., peppered his remarks at the recent National Travel Law Symposium in Washington with a few war stories.

Many lawsuits on his docket were decidedly frivolous. One of the more colorful involved clients on safari who saw a sign in their tent saying not to open windows because monkeys might enter.

They opened the windows anyway because they thought the monkeys would be cute. Indeed, the monkeys visited -- and made off with a camera and jewelry. The clients sued the tour operator.

Another client was walking through a swinging door as someone else approached. The door collided with her foot and she lost a toenail. She sued the agent.

In another, a couple who liked one coach trip in England asked their Philadelphia agent to book a second. On that trip, the coach skidded off the road, and some passengers were killed.

The couple who requested the trip sued saying the coach company, tour operator and agency should have warned them that the coach had a defective brake system.

This case involved an accident with grave consequences. However, to claim the agent should be prescient about the condition of a coach that clients would ride in the future is too much.

These cases, and others like them, were thrown out, but only after time and resources were spent on defense. Although you cannot anticipate every mishap nor avoid all misunderstandings, preventing litigation has to be your goal.

After the law symposium (sponsored by Travel Weekly and ARTA with MasterCard), I summed up core points made by speakers, as follows:

Perhaps you have long since drawn such conclusions and have additional pieces of advice for staying out of court. I would appreciate the chance to share any such words of wisdom in future columns.