FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Attorney Rodney Gould is defending an agent
whose honeymooning clients sued for a full trip refund because the
view from their Mexico hotel window included piles of seaweed.
They also were unhappy that one of the property's restaurants
was closed, and because the bride came down with turista on the
trip.
The couple sued about four or five years ago, and Gould said by
this fall, the agency's insurer was ready to pay the $4,000 --
"$4,000 more than the nothing they should get," Gould said -- to
avoid the costs of a trial.
However, the bridegroom has since had a change of heart and
believes he is entitled to $35,000.
According to Gould, the bridegroom gave no explanation other
than the fact he happens to be a New York firefighter -- one who
was not among those working at the World Trade Center site on Sept.
11, the attorney noted.
As a result, Gould said, the case will go to trial this
summer.
An odd case, to be sure. But dealing with litigious honeymooners
is not uncommon for the travel attorney.
Gould, a partner in Rubin Hay & Gould of Framingham, Mass.,
said honeymooners are more likely to sue than any other client
group because they often travel with unrealistic expectations.
The following is a sampling of other honeymooner cases:
• On arrival in Venice, Italy, one couple had been upgraded to a
suite at their hotel, but it had two beds rather than the double
they had requested. Also, one suitcase was lost or stolen while in
transit between cities, with their birth-control devices inside.
After saying he "wouldn't speculate on why the pair couldn't put
the beds together," the judge tossed the case out.
• While honeymooning at an inclusive Caribbean resort, one groom
left his sleeping bride to have a drink at the pool bar. When it
started to rain, he exited the pool and slipped on the wet deck
surface, rupturing his spleen. He sued his agency back in
Philadelphia, claiming the agency should have investigated the pool
and advised it was dangerous to walk around the pool when it was
wet. The case was dismissed.
• A Wisconsin couple sued their agent in Madison after a
honeymoon in Jamaica where they saw topless women on one beach and
where someone offered them marijuana at another beach. They said
the agent was obliged to warn that such things might happen, but
the state court judge did not agree and tossed the case.
• An Oregon court tossed this one: A pair of newlyweds anted up
for a $25,000 trip to a palatial resort in Hawaii, then sued the
agent for the entire cost because they had to look through trees to
see the ocean in their oceanview room.
• Another case, still pending in Chicago, involves a gay couple
who took their honeymoon trip to Egypt, where they sailed on the
Nile. On a day that was so hot their sightseeing tour returned to
the boat early, one partner went swimming. He had a pre-existing
condition that prevented him from feeling heat in his feet. Leaving
the pool, he walked across the hot deck, realizing too late that
his feet were burning. He sued his Illinois travel agent,
effectively contending the agent should have told him the deck
would be hot, "as if he had no obligation to take care of himself
on vacation," Gould said.
How does the travel agent head off litigation of this type?
Gould said agents can't do much to anticipate what will upset a
honeymooner, but he offered two succinct pointers:
• Use a responsibility clause that makes clear you are not
responsible for the failures of third parties.
• Never guarantee anything.